Rome, 2007 Oct 31, IQNA

Rumi, the famous 13th century Islamic poet and mystic, will be featured in a new US$25 million film production to be produced in a joint venture between Italy and the United Arab Emirates.

It's one of the major deals to have emerged in 'The Business Street', the space set aside for international film producers and others at this year's Rome Film Festival.

In the last few years, several proposals have been considered for a movie about the life of the much beloved Sufi poet, who is well known in Europe and the US. More than 800 years after his death, his Persian poetry remains popular from Turkey to India.

Now a new Italian company, Istar Production, has reached an agreement with Dubai's D-Seven Motion Pictures to make the film.

Muzaffar Ali, a famous Indian filmmaker will direct the film. Igor Uboldi from Istar said the choice of an Indian director was appropriate because it was one of the countries where the 'cult' of Rumi survived. It also coincided with the Rome Film Festival's focus on Indian movies this year.

The film project appears to be connected with UNESCO's Rumi Year, declared to commemorate the poet's 800th birthday.

The film has been presented to Turkish institutions with a view to shooting in Turkey and has received formal support from UNESCO.

"It will be an international production to tell the story of a poet that after 8 centuries still inspires us," said Uboldi.

"At a time when Islam is at the centre of turmoil and misconceptions, Rumi opens the doors of a world where Islam always means love, never hatred", he added.

Mowlana Jalal-ad-Din Mohammad Balkhi, known to the English-speaking world as Rumi, was a 13th century Persian (Iranian) Muslim poet, jurist, and theologian.

His poetry is in Persian and his works are widely read in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and in translation especially in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the US, and South Asia.

Rumi's importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. Throughout the centuries he has had a significant influence on Persian as well as Urdu and Turkish literatures. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages in various formats, and BBC News has described him as the most popular poet in America.