“When we write the past, we reinvent ourselves. In this, in my opinion, writing is the mourning of the real.”
In March 2020, Atiq Rahimi and his daughter Alice are confined separately. In the midst of a pandemic, they write to each other to give each other news but also to encourage each other. Quickly, their correspondence evolves towards a questioning around their identities. A form of epistolary introspection that they publish today with POL editions
Writer and filmmaker, Atiq Rahimi grew up in Afghanistan, which he left in 1984 at the age of 22 to settle in Paris. His daughter Alice was born there 12 years later, she is an actress. In 2020, living in an unprecedented world situation, she wonders about her identity, as the daughter of exiles from a country at war, her father feels blocked in the writing of his novel. The past resurfaces and dialogues with the present in a story about reality constructed by two generations.
Guests :
Atiq and Alice Rahimi, If only at night, published by POL