“Love appeared and set fire to the universe. Except for this love, life is not even the blink of an eye.” So opens Mehran Haghighi’s beautiful ode to the nastaliq (or nasta’liq) script, Performing Beauty. The film profiles the first master calligraphers to develop nastaliq as it rose to prominence in the 15th century.
The film is comprised of interviews with master calligraphers and art historians alike, who provide the fascinating backstory on the craft and its calligraphers. Interviews are overlaid with countless examples of the script and interspersed with calligraphers writing it live, making for a nice balance of theory and application.
The interviewees explained how nastaliq was created to write the Persian language, and details their spread beyond Iran and into other countries, such as India and Turkey. As document types go, it was used for everything from correspondence to decrees to illuminated manuscripts, illuminated poetry, and more.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, schools began to open to train future calligraphers to take up the art form. Training proceeds with the master taking on an apprentice, writing nastaliq for them and teaching them about the text, the tools, and the culture behind it. Then the student practices the calligraphy on their own until the master is convinced they’ve learned it well enough to imitate them expertly.
One impressive shot is an overhead view of master calligrapher Bahman Panahi’s work station, consisting of an enormous piece of white paper, about four by five feet. He writes a bit of script using a long, thin wedge of wood that swoops and tightly curves the elegant stroke at the end. A later work setup shows bamboo reeds with chiseled tips and pots of ink and leather place mats. These inspiring shots are familiar to anyone who goes to a desk to create.
The end focuses on modern interpretations by artists paying homage to nastaliq, concluding with a final comment on its unifying quality and persistent importance to Iranian culture. Modern artists manipulate the script in different ways; we see works where artists have layered the characters on top of each other—thus the meaning becomes less about verbal communication and more about visual. Other examples even show arranging characters to create shapes like waves, and even one piece where script characters were sculpted from steel.
My one qualm was the absence of closed captions throughout the whole of the film, because I would have liked to have been able to look up some of the historical figures and place names that the English-speaking interviewees mentioned. I could still do my best to discern it by ear, but it would only be a best guess.
The documentary is a work of art from start to finish. Even the credits are fascinating to study because they include degree-specific angles and construction marks to illustrate how the characters are made. If the goal of this film was to raise awareness about the art form and provokes interest for others to learn about it, it absolutely achieves this. Highly recommended.
What academic subjects or media education courses would benefit from this Persian calligraphy documentary?
This educational film is unique in that it holds learning potential for a variety of branches stemming from art and history subjects. Those teaching with film could screen Performing Beauty in a history class specific to Islamic studies or an art class focusing in calligraphy. It also complements coursework in Middle Eastern studies, design theory, visual communication, and comparative aesthetics, giving students a deeper appreciation of how language, art, and spirituality intertwine. Professors or educators exploring material culture or manuscript traditions could use it as a vivid visual reference for understanding how artistic expression evolves across centuries while maintaining cultural continuity.
Which library audiences should see Performing Beauty?
If librarians screened this as part of their film programming, droves of enthusiasts would come out to see it, including font nerds, art buffs, graphic design lovers, history geeks, and even those who love illuminated manuscripts. It would also resonate with students, calligraphy practitioners, and anyone curious about the intersections of art and language. Beyond serving as an educational resource, it’s a visually meditative experience that invites viewers to slow down and appreciate the act of creation itself—a perfect fit for cultural programs, artist talks, or thematic film series celebrating global art traditions.
Enjoyed this review? Subscribe to Video Librarian today for access to over 40,000 pages of film resources tailored for librarians, educators, and non-theatrical audiences.