The documentary film “Taq Kasra: Wonder of Architecture” was screened for the first time in Australia on 30 January 2019 at the Ian Potter Center of the National Gallery of Victoria. The screening, which was attended by nearly 100 people, was part of a two-day symposium on “Cultural Heritage in West Asia“ and co-sponsored by Deakin University (Melbourne) and the Australian Research Council.
The film screening was followed by a Q&A session with the director Pejman Akbarzadeh, moderated by Dr. Ali Mozaffari of Deakin University and author of “Forming National Identity in Iran: The Idea of Homeland Derived from Ancient Persian and Islamic” and Dr. David Harvey, Associate Professor of archaeology and heritage at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Also known as the Arch of Ctesiphon, Taq Kasra is a symbol of the Persian Empire in the Sassanian era (221–654 AD), when a major part of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) was part of Persia. The mysterious monument was abandoned after the Arab invasion of Persia (Iran) in the 7th century AD but has remained a source of inspiration for archaeologists, poets, and other travelers.
Taq Kasra was in serious danger of ISIS attacks in 2014–16 and this was the main motivation for documentary-maker Pejman Akbarzadeh, based in the Netherlands, to travel to Iraq at that time and film the arch before it was potentially destroyed.
Taq Kasra: Wonder of Architecture, the first-ever documentary film about this arch, explores various aspects of the site with respected architects, archaeologists, and scholars from around the world. The film also portrays the huge impact of the 20th-century wars and ideological policies on this ancient building.
The following scholars and architects have been interviewed in the film:
(in order of appearance)
– Hossein Amanat | Persian-Canadian architect
– Prof. Ed Keall | Former director of Royal Ontario Museum’s Near Eastern Department
– Prof. Touraj Daryaee | Director of Center for Persian Studies University of California
– Dr. Ute Franke | State Museums of Berlin
– Dr. Vesta Sarkhosh-Curtis | British Museum
– Dr. Ali Mozaffari | Australian Research Council, Deakin University
– Dr. Mahmoud Mullakhalaf | Iraqi Ambassador to UNESCO
– Dr. Qais Huseen Rasheed | Head of Iraqi State Board of Antiquities
– Dr. Miroslav Zeman | ProjektyZeman, Prague
– Prof. Robert Hillenbrand | University of Edinburgh
Guest Artists: Shahrokh Heydari & Fraidoun Warasta
The DVD of the film is sold out.
Academic institutions and libraries are welcome to stream the film on their server: info [at] taqkasra.com
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PRODUCED BY PERSIAN DUTCH NETWORK
FUNDED BY SOUDAVAR MEMORIAL FOUNDATION & TOOS FOUNDATION
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Pejman Akbarzadeh (b. 1980, Shiraz) is a documentary maker, journalist, and pianist. His reference book on the 20th-century composers and conductors of Persia (Iran), written when he was just 18, has been used as a source for academic publications including the Encyclopaedia Iranica. He has also performed Persian piano recitals in various European venues such as Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw.
Pejman began working as a journalist while still in Tehran. Following a rise in state oppression of the press, he moved to the Netherlands in 2006 and worked with the Persian-language Radio Zamaneh as a senior producer for eight years. He has also contributed to several other media outlets including BBC and VOA.
In 2009 Pejman started a new phase of his career. Recognising the wider catchment of visual media over literature, that same year he completed his first documentary, the feature-length film Hayedeh: Legendary Persian Diva. The film was screened at festivals in both Europe and the United States and nominated for Best Documentary at the Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles.
“Taq Kasra: Wonder of Architecture” (2018) is Pejman Akbarzadeh’s second documentary film, for which he traveled to Iraq twice, despite the lurking presence of ISIL nearby. The film premiered at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS) in February 2018 and subsequently screened at various international conferences, museums and universities including the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer|Sackler Gallery in Washington DC, Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yale University, the 8th Biennial Convention of the Association for the Study of the Persianate Societies in Tbilisi and the 12th Conference of the Iranian Studies Association at UC Irvine. More: www.PejmanAkbarzadeh.nl
(BBC Live Interview with Pejman Akbarzadeh following the world premiere of the film in London)
Special Thanks to Tori Egherman, Stephanie Fauver, Farzad Seifikaran and Thomas Newell
Photo by Stephanie Fauver