Tehran MoCA

Tehran MoCA is a feature-length documentary investigating the condition of the most extensive collection of Western Modern Art in Asia. This treasure of 1,500 masterpieces worth more than 3 billion dollars has been locked away in the vault of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art under the control of the anti-west regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979. Abstract Expressionist and American pop artists such as Kandinsky, Motherwell, Pollock, Rothko, Stella, Hockney, and Warhol, are some of the names in this collection.

In this international project, we use never-seen archival footage combined with interviews with Iranian legends such as Kamran Diba, Kamran Adl, Iran Darroudi, Jila Dejam, Faryar Javaherian, and American curators such as Donne Stein, who were the team behind the creation of the museum and its collection.

We are digging deep into themes such as the long-term consequences of colonization, ideological censorship, survival and preservation of art against the violence of revolution, war, and international abandonment.

Director and Cinematographer: Ali Zanjani

Producer: Nazanin Nematollahi

Editor: Arash Maleki