Composing for the Screen: The Music of Nomade auf Zeit
For a documentary, music does more than accompany the images—it helps shape the story, its rhythm and its emotional perspective. For Nomade auf Zeit, JAM MUSIC LAB Media Music student Morvarid Tahmasbi composed and produced the original documentary film score together with setar player and conductor Kamyab Sadeghi.
Directed by Austrian filmmaker Valentin Macke, the film follows his two-year journey eastwards from Austria. In the mountains of Iran, he encounters a Qashqai nomadic family and gradually becomes part of their everyday life. Through this intimate perspective, the documentary explores travel, migration, freedom and the relationship between people and nature.
A score written to the image
Morvarid and Kamyab composed directly to the film’s scenes. Instead of creating a collection of standalone pieces, they developed recurring musical themes connected to the characters and the unfolding story.
At the heart of the score are two traditional Iranian instruments: the kamancheh and setar. Their distinctive sounds give the film its musical identity, while the composition brings traditional Iranian music into dialogue with contemporary film scoring.
The creative process began with collaborative studio sessions shaped by experimentation and improvisation. Melodies and textures emerged in response to individual scenes before being refined according to the film’s dramaturgy. Iranian percussion and subtle electronic elements expanded the musical palette without losing its acoustic character. This allowed the score to move naturally between intimate encounters, open landscapes and the changing atmosphere of the journey.
From composition to music production at JAM
Following the joint composition sessions, Morvarid continued developing the documentary film score as its music producer. She arranged the material in her DAW and oversaw the recording sessions at the JAM MUSIC LAB studio in Vienna.
The project brought together several areas central to studying Media Music at JAM MUSIC LAB: composing for film, collaborative artistic work, recording and professional music production.
Watch the official trailer for Nomade auf Zeit
From the studio to international film festivals
Nomade auf Zeit has already received international recognition. The film won the Grand Prize in the International Competition at the What the Doc! Film Festival in Thailand. It was also presented at DOKUDOC in Maribor in September 2026 and selected for the Peloponnisos International Documentary Film Festival in Greece.
For Morvarid, the project marks an important step in her development as a media composer. It also offered an opportunity to bring the sounds of the kamancheh and setar into contemporary documentary filmmaking—making them part of a larger story about movement, connection and the experience of living between places.
