Six Centuries, Six Years

Mojtaba Mirtahmasb is an Iranian filmmaker and a graduate of the Art University of Tehran. He has made nearly 30 films, often collaborating with prominent Iranian directors.  His films include: Banner (1996), The First Presence (1999), The River Still Has Fish (2001), Off Beat (2004), Home is in Our Past (co-directed with Hamed Mohammad Taheri, 2005), This is Not a Film (co-directed and co-produced with Jafar Panahi, 2011), and Six Centuries, Six Years (2014).

"Six Centuries, Six Years" portrays the endeavors of a group of Iranian master musicians who are trying to locate, restore and record a repertoire of compositions attributed to Abd al-Qadir Maraghi, a prominent composer who lived six centuries ago and greatly influenced the Middle Eastern classical music. During their six-year journey, the group is finally able to reassemble a major portion of these ballads by sifting through manuscripts and other documents deeply buried in the annals of Iranian and Turkish art history. The film follows these musicians as they rediscover forgotten music that deepens the roots of our music as far back as six centuries.

Part of the Stanford Festival of Iranian Arts.