Schermodellarte.org - Scheda film

Iranian artist Mitra Farahani's latest feature film is the result of a seven-year project which stages a long-distance dialogue between two great masters of cinema: Ebrahim Golestan and Jean-Luc Godard. Golestan, a leading director of the Iranian new wave, and Jean-Luc Godard had never met in person, but, thanks to Mitra Farahani, they began a correspondence. “Ebrahim can send me a letter this Friday and I will answer him next Friday. So, see you on Friday, Robinson! ” says Godard. From the large English castle in which Golestan lives to the intimate space of Godard's house in Rolle, Switzerland, the film follows the exchanges between these two isolated elderly men who communicate via Internet.

Godard's messages are composed of obscure formulas and montages of enigmatic images. Golestan responds with lucid wisdom, arguments made up over several pages. The two directors struggle to find a common language. Instead of passively recording their exchanges, A vendredi, Robinson transforms them into cinematic material. Between literary and filmic citations, Farahani's eye leads us into the two authors' poetic vision, weaving a subtle plot between distant thoughts that converge in a vision of the union between art and life.

Mitra Farahani

(Tehran, 1975, lives and works between Rome and Paris) is an artist, filmmaker and producer. She exhibited her artworks at: Tabakalera, San Sebastian (2016); Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (2014); MAXXI, Rome (2014). Her films has been presented at international festivals, including Berlinale, CPH:DOX; Visions du Réel. In 2018 she co-produced The Image Book by Jean-Luc Godard, award-winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival.

Selected Filmography
2012 Fifi hurle de joie; 2011 Juste une femme; 2007 Behjat Sadr: le Temps suspendu; 2004 Tabous - Zohre & Manouchehr

Image credits: Ecran Noir Production