US Premiere: “Derbent: What Persia Left Behind” | Stanford University, Oct. 3, 2024
A documentary by Pejman Akbarzadeh
This comprehensive documentary explores the fascinating history of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Fortifications of Derbent’ (Darband) and the largest defensive structure of the Persian Empire in the Sasanian era.

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Born in 1980 in Shiraz, Pejman Akbarzadeh is a documentary maker, journalist and pianist, based in The Netherlands. 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 in 2000 – while still in Tehran – with media outlets including Yas-e Now, Shargh Newspaper and BBC Persian Service. Following a rise in state oppression of the press, he was invited to the Netherlands in 2006 to work with the Persian-language Radio Zamaneh as a senior producer for eight years. After that period he mainly contributes to BBC Persian Television/Radio and website from Europe, Middle East and Caucasus.

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 is the first-ever documentary on the world’s largest brickwork vault which is the symbol of the Persian Empire in the Sasanian era (224-651 AD). Funded by Soudavar Memorial and Toos Foundations, 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.

Pejman’s latest documentary explores the unique history and architecture of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Derbent Fortifications‘. The site is the largest defensive structure of Sasanian Persia in Caucasus which is now located in Russia’s Dagestan region. The documentary recently screened during the German Orientalists Conference in Berlin.