Film

Classic silent film: “Grass” (1925)

Sun, 12/09/2010

This pioneering silent documentary about the annual migration of the Bakhtiari tribe is a window into a forgotten world.  Vivid, moving and unbelievably exciting, it is accompanied by the haunting traditional music of the region.  The success of Grass enabled film makers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack to go on to make King Kong in 1933, but their account of the Bakhtiari’s migration is if anything even more thrilling!

The Bakhtiari people of western Iran are herdsmen who to this day move their flocks and herds hundreds of miles for grazing each year.  When American film makers Cooper and Schoedsack tracked them down in 1925, this annual migration was entirely on foot and horseback – and through the most dramatic landscape.  The film that resulted is a white-knuckle portrait of one of the toughest journeys imaginable.  The bare-foot ascent of the snow-covered Zagros Mountains is unforgettable – and the crossing of the Karun River by 50,000 people, with their tents, their worldly possessions plus half a million cattle and sheep is one of the most extraordinary sequences ever filmed.  “A fascinating, visually splendid film” (Time Out).

Grass highlights the hardships faced by nomadic peoples, and the ingenuity needed to surmount them and survive.  Our screening will be introduced by Christien van den Anker (Reader in Politics, UWE) – and we hope to be joined by a native Bakhtiari speaker to provide context.  The next day, 13th September, is the 3rd anniversary of the UN's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – so we will use the screening to highlight the increasingly desperate struggle for survival of the world’s indigenous cultures.  Survival International will be there with displays and an information stall.  “Some of the most remarkable footage of the silent era – eye-popping!”(Village Voice).

 Our screening of Grass is on Sunday 12th September – the Bar opens at 7pm, and the film starts at 7.30pm.  Tickets cost £5 (concessions available) – and should be booked on 0117 924 4512 or info@pieriancentre.com.  The screening is at the Pierian Centre, 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8SA.