Trailer for Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life which will be screening at the Hot Docs Film Festival.
In 1924, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, the makers of King Kong, teamed up with journalist—and occasional spy—Marguerite Harrison to film an adventure. Travelling to what was then Persia (now Iran) to document the migration of the Bakhtiari tribe, they captured astounding and unforgettable images. The tribe battled the raging waters of the half-mile-wide Karun River to move more than 50,000 people and half a million animals to take their herds to pasture. Beyond the rapids of the river, the tribe also ascended the 15,000-foot-high Zard Kuh mountain, many doing so with their feet bare or wrapped in rags. Presented now in a fully restored version with an authentic new Iranian score, the near-unbelievable images the filmmakers returned with are documentation of the courage and determination of the tribe—a testimony of the bravery of this incredible feat that the tribe undertook twice a year.