Muezzin

The muezzin plays a small but crucial role in the Muslim religion — each day, those of the faith are required to face Mecca and pray five times a day, and it is the muezzin who stands in the minarets of the mosque and issues the call to prayer, announcing to all within earshot that it is time to pray. While many modern mosques use recordings rather than live muezzins, the position is still one of great respect in the Muslim community, and in Istanbul an annual competition is held to find and honor the best and most powerful muezzin in the land. Filmmaker Sebastian Brameshuber offers a look at the competition and the men who take part in it in the documentary Muezzin. Halit Aslan of Istanbul’s Faith Mosque is regarded by many as the man to beat, and he believes the Mosque’s honor as well as his own is at stake in the contest. But no great contest should be without a plucky underdog, and Isa Aydin, a muezzin from a small mosque in the suburbs, surprises the judges with his strong, clear delivery, and suddenly Aslan’s victory no longer seems to be a sure thing. Muezzin was an official selection at the 2009Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.