Iranian-Australian duo ZOJ, composer and kamancheh player Gelareh Pour and drummer Brian O’Dwyer, present a breathtaking live score to Grass, the 1925 silent film chronicling the nomadic Bakhtiari tribe’s epic migration through the mountains of Iran.

Through ZOJ’s haunting instrumentation, the film’s black-and-white imagery is reborn with new intensity. Pour’s kamancheh weaves melodies of longing and endurance, while O’Dwyer’s percussion evokes the earth itself, trudging footsteps, rushing rivers, the heartbeat of survival. This is not mere accompaniment but re-interpretation: a contemporary conversation between image, sound and heritage. Grass becomes a reflection on movement, displacement and the fragile relationship between people and land, resonating deeply with global stories of today.

Witness Grass become an alive artifact of history, an urgent, breathing encounter where cinema and sound converge. Gelareh’s haunting kamancheh and voice summon the landscapes of Iran, threading heritage into the film’s heart, while Brian’s elemental rhythms carve tension and search for release. The result transcends nostalgia, it is a transformation: Grass reborn as a living conversation between past and present – a reflection on movement, displacement and the fragile relationship between people and land. 

Presented by Castlemaine Documentary Festival (CDoc) after a sell-out show for the Castlemaine State Festival.