Gozaran – Time Passing

Gozaran – Time Passing

In this 2011 documentary, director Frank Scheffer follows the passionate Iranian avant-garde composer Nader Mashayekhi at the head of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra in 2005. After 30 years of exile in Vienna, Mashayekhi returns to his country natal, decided to revive classical and contemporary Western music then shunned by the Iranian Islamic regime. Wishing to lead a symphony orchestra composed mostly of women, Mashayekhi quickly ran into a dictatorial government, opposed to the art and emancipation of women, where classical music is not a sinecure. Barely two years later, Mashayekhi is back in Austria, his suitcase full of disillusionment. He takes stock of his life, reflects on the meaning of music and poetry, and shares his impossible but unshakable love for his native Iran.