Screening Heritage: Critical Heritage and Film Through the Example of “Taq Kasra: Wonder of Architecture” Documentary

ABSTRACT This paper probes the process of heritage production in documentary films with a specific focus on the documentary film Taq Kasra Wonder of Architecture (Akbarzadeh, Pejman. 2018. Taq Kasra Wonder of Architecture. Amsterdam: Persian Dutch Network. www.taqkasra.com.), which tells the story of the pre-Islamic Persian/Iranian historical site of Taq Kasra (the Arch of Ctesiphon), presently located in Iraq. The paper situates the film within a broader context of documentaries about Persian edifices in the region and draws on primary interview material with the documentary maker Pejman Akbarzadeh. Through its analyses, the paper shows how, especially in the Iranian setting, a documentary film can engage and (re)produce heritage, and how, when compared to that setting, Taq Kasra exposes persistent aspects of cultural politics within the Islamic Republic since its establishment after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and Saddam Hussein’s policies. In doing so, it is argued that the film provides a mode of critical enquiry into heritage in current historical and political circumstances in Iran. The paper addresses a lacuna in both critical heritage and film studies, namely, the analysis and interpretation of the making of heritage in film and as film.