Afghan Art and Film Festival

Ali Eteraz is teasing about a new Rumi bio-pic, run with Qatar Foundation and Rumi Foundation. Looks really good, but some questions: Will it seriously deal with the fact that Shams-i Tabriz was most likely an Ismaili? I can’t imagine the Qataris would be too happy with that. Why do we need a non-Muslim playing the part of Rumi? Are there not enough good Muslim actors? I think the Iranians might object. Even Mel Gibson went with a no name for Jesus to make it seem more real, and that movie seems to have done OK.