Fifi Howls From Happiness

At the end of the 1960s, painter and sculptor Bahman Mohassess permanently left Iran, destroying most of his work and disappearing from the public scene. In an effort to discover the reason for recurring fish-imagery in his work, but above all to rescue him from official art historical oblivion, Mitra Farahani visited him in a Rome hotel in 2010. Interviewed under the red painting from which the film takes its name, the caustic, egocentric artist dictates his biography, giving the director instructions for many of the scenes. Only when he receives a commission from two passionate young artist/collectors from Dubai (Rokni and Ramin Haerizadeh), does “the solitary monster exit his cave”, and prepare to paint his final great piece. The last months of Mohassess’ life take on aspects of the novel The Unknown Masterpiece by Honoré de Balzac, but the only images in which we see the artist at work are taken from a documentary filmed in the 1970s. Winner of the Scam International Award at the Cinéma du Réel Festival, 2013.