Faculty of Art

Experimental Animation

Rumaisa Ahmad

Beloved Echoes

Echo of Love (2026) is an experimental mixed-media documentary that explores the intimacy between man and the Divine as experienced through the South Asian musical tradition of Qawwali. Structured around an archival performance by the late Murli Qawwal and ensemble, the frames of which are printed onto vellum, manipulated and rescanned, the film intersplices archival footage with photographed sequences of devotional intimacy, and frame-by-frame dry pastel drawings.

“Fundamentally, this film is about the intimacy between man and the Divine in its most private and most ecstatic forms. It is based on the understanding of this relationship as found in the South Asian Sufi musical tradition “Qawwali” which features centuries old devotional poetry where the worshipper is presented as a yearning lover, and God is presented as the eternal Beloved. While creating this piece, I asked myself foremost how the intimacy between man and his Beloved manifested. I am moved by the idea that rather than being a moral guiding figure, God is the name we give to the mystery that forms and holds us. I am most curious about religion as the lived experiences which witness God beyond the actions of pure worship. The Quran says about the proximity of God; “He is closer to you than your jugular vein” [55:16], this verse is the crux of the philosophy behind this film– that the Beloved we seek is closer to us than the blood which circles our body. I believe that intimacy with this Beloved is not necessarily found in mosques or books, but rather between two hands reaching out for something they cannot see but continue to long for. I wanted to explore the space between these hands– the love for a force which creates, beckons, and haunts us all the same, throughout our entire lives. The anchor of this film is a performance by Murli Qawwal and his ensemble, documented by the late filmmaker Mahmood Jamal, where Murli performs a Qawwali initially written in Persian by Hafez of Shiraz in the 14th century, then translated to Urdu by Hasrat Mohani in the late 19th century. It is performed at Murli’s family home in Lucknow, India where he is surrounded by his ensemble and family, many of whom continue to perform today. Qawwali is a practice that relies on oral tradition as well as inherited teaching, the same verses are performed by individuals within a long lineage, each performance serving as an iteration of the same message.The film synthesizes photographic sequences, archival video, and dry pastel to excavate the relationship between lover and beloved, narrated by Qawwali. The process of this film involved a lot of analogue experimentation and layering of mediums, the process was designed to be improvisational with respect to the improvisational nature of Qawwali. The frames were printed onto vellum and manipulated to create effects of veiling and distortion, and then re-scanned. Qawwali reflects the religious core that no lover of God is ever saying anything new, only reflecting, recording, or interpreting a single expression of devotion that has been echoed many times before. The vellum sequences capture a man who is no longer here performing verses of love that were written long before him, he himself is an intermediary of a primordial feeling, phasing in and out of view. Yet, the practice of Qawwali has lived on for many centuries, outliving colonialism and the fragmentation of South Asia, and the essence its verses reflect have lived even longer.The purpose of this film is two-fold. It is an attempt to preserve a performance of a long-living inherited art form and the efforts of all those involved, representing the hereditary nature of faith. It also serves as a sensory and aesthetic interpretation of the intimacy it reflects upon. Qawwali as a practice is about standing on the shoulders of giants– to even listen to Qawwali is to hear an echo from a long time ago, an expression of Love that has stood the test of time. All performers and listeners are fallible intermediaries and lovers of the message. In its final form, this film serves simply as another interpretation of this love. I am greatly moved by the lovers that have come before me– Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Murli, Aamir Khusro, and those in my life whom I have witnessed possessing this love (many of whom are featured in the film). I hope that when audiences see this work, they understand that this piece is not a singular interpretation belonging to me, but rather a visitation of a common intimacy that predates all of us. I hope it can serve as a reminder for how we are always standing on the shoulders of giants who have long believed in something. Love is an echo from a long, long time ago, coming to meet you here now.”