First Documentary on the Hizmet Movement


Date posted: June 12, 2014

By Tasmin Mahfuz

At the SVA theatre in New York City, the Peace Islands Institute sponsored an exclusive screening of the award-winning documentary, “Love is a Verb.”

Director Terry Spencer Hesser started the film three years ago when she was working on a travel series for PBS.

The film takes viewers on a journey to the roots of the Hizmet movement, inspired by the teachings of renown scholar Mr. Fethullah Gulen and with an influence in over 160 countries worldwide.

Terry, Hakan and their team of five travel to Belgium, Turkey, Bosnia, Iraq and Somalia, telling the stories of volunteers who sacrificed their own will to dedicate their time to serve in schools, hospitals, and humanitarian aid organizations.

Producer Hakan Berberoglu of Chicago’s Niagra Foundation tells us about the obstacles they faced while filming.

“Each culture and each set-up is very different because the Gulen movement is serving throughout the world. So that was one of the difficulties. So filming the Gulen movement in Belgium is very different than filming the Gulen movement in Somalia,” he said.

3000 people donated to the project, enabling a $350,000 fund to produce the film.

More than 250 special guests from the tri-state area joined the producers to celebrate the premiere of the documentary.

The documentary is the first of its kind and received the Best Documentary Award at Maryland International Film Festival. Actress Ashley Judd lent her voice and through Terry’s eyes, we meet a society we may have never heard about.

“The people are actually sort of subtle gentle revolutionaries,” Terry explained.

And now, many feel inspired to give back in the best way they can.

Source: Ebrunews.com , June 11, 2014

Tags: | | |


Related News

Erdogan’s Hate Speech against the Gulen Movement

This video is the hate speech uttered by Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan agains the Gulen Movement. Video is compilation from Mr. Erdogan’s public speeches and election rallies.

India must understand Erdogan’s ideological motives for seeking extradition of Gülenists

Since its inception in India, Hizmet is known for its peace activism, interfaith dialogue and counter-extremism. Operating in the country through interfaith dialogue centres, educational institutions and cultural associations, it is articulating an evolving narrative of peace, pluralism and non-violence based on the spiritual ideas and principles of Gülen’s progressive and dialogic narrative of Sufism, as this research paper also elaborates.

Hiring based on ‘color lists’ a violation of Constitution, analysts say

A public sector employee selection process using personal data to create “color lists” that profiled and separated the candidates into acceptable and non-acceptable categories, as was recently maintained by the Taraf daily, is a violation of the Constitution, analysts have agreed.

Dozens of Dutch-Turkish businesses ‘threatened’ after failed coup

Business people associated with exiled opposition leader Fethullah Gülen, or accused of supporting him, have filed official police complaints, the Parool newspaper reported. The Dutch government last week called for Dutch Turks who had been targeted to contact the police.

Almost 1,000 officers removed from post in İzmir, Ankara

Around 700 police officers, including four deputy chiefs and 70 high-ranking officials, were removed from their posts at the İzmir Police Department and reassigned to different positions on Thursday morning and removals continued later in the afternoon with 207 more officers

Hizmet really has expanded my understanding of what it means to be human.

Kenneth Hunter is the Principal of the Prosser Career Academy High School. He studied theology at Chicago Loyola University and taught world religions in high schools. He served as the chairperson of Illinois State Board of Education Language Arts Assessment Advisory Council (2002-2012). He is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

TUSKON foreign trade summit opens Central Asia’s doors

Turkish women make a difference in Africa

Purge-victim mother of three dies of heart attack

Pillar of Society or Threat to Democracy?

Germany’s dialogue awards find their recipients

Gulen: Issuance of arrest warrant changes nothing about my views

2017 Victoria Parliament Iftar dinner

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News