Tromsø World – GRASS BY ZÖJ: SILENT MOVIE. LIVE CONCERT

Tromsø World Festival

GRASS BY ZÖJ: SILENT MOVIE. LIVE CONCERT

Silent Cinema Reawakened

Genres: Live film score / Persian experimental / Ambient

 

At Tromsø World 2026, Iranian-Australian duo ZÖJ presents a breathtaking live reinterpretation of the landmark silent film Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925) — transforming one of cinema’s earliest documentary masterpieces into a deeply immersive audiovisual experience.

Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack decades before King Kong, the film documents the extraordinary migration of the Bakhtiari people across the mountains and rivers of Iran: tens of thousands of people and animals moving through brutal landscapes in search of survival. Nearly a century later, the imagery still feels astonishing in scale, beauty and emotional power.

Through live kamancheh, voice and textured percussion, ZÖJ creates a score that does far more than accompany the film. The duo reawakens it — building an intense dialogue between sound, movement and landscape where Persian musical traditions merge with contemporary experimental expression. Gelareh Pour’s haunting voice and string work weave directly into the emotional terrain of the film, while Brian O’Dwyer’s elemental percussion evokes footsteps, rivers, weather and survival itself.

Each performance unfolds with elements of improvisation and deep listening, making the experience feel immediate and alive rather than archival or nostalgic. The result is part cinema, part concert and part ritual: an encounter with history transformed through sound and presence.

At Tromsø World 2026, GRASS by ZÖJ becomes one of the festival’s most immersive and unforgettable experiences — a rare moment where film, music and collective attention merge completely.

This event is in collaboration with Tromsø Film Club and Tromsø International Film Festival.

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