How Should One Wait for Godot by Arshia Zeinali

A Piano Played By Ear

Curated by Paola Paleari

July 5 – 26

Arshia Zeinali

How Should One Wait for Godot, 2021

4K HD video and sound, single screen, subtitled, 28 min

A free adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s most-known plays, Waiting for Godot and Endgame, Arshia Zeinali’s film comprises a sequence of scenes where two men idle away the time while waiting in vain for a third person named Godot.

Marginalized and disempowered, the two main characters depend on an external force to arrive and provide direction. Doubt creeps in: perhaps they have not been waiting the right way?

The obsessive repetitiveness of the dialogues and the post-apocalyptic dreariness of the different settings enhance the overall sense of resignation. However, despite their dependency, they express skepticism and frustration and even contemplate leaving Godot behind. Ultimately, the purpose of their loitering gets replaced, with the end hinting to a clean slate.

While embracing Beckett’s critical examination of power structures and the dehumanization of capitalistic societies resulting from the relentless pursuit of outer validation, Zeinali leaves space to envision an alternative solution to the freefall of life. If humanity fails to find a way out on its own, there will not be a saviour coming to the rescue either.

Credits

Writer and Director: Arshia Zeinali
Screenplay consultant: Shabnam Madadi
Assistant Director: Atefeh Karimi
Director Consultant: Shahram Shafei
Cinematography: Rasool Davari Dolatabadi
Sound: Alireza Daryadel
Edited: Hossein Besharati
Cast: Farshad Haghanipour, Kianoosh Qavami, Arshia Zeinali
Music: Kamyar Mobasheri
VFX: Mohamad Zarei
Camera Assistant: Amir Salar Aghel
Boom Operator: Kianoush Majnouni, Shayan Zeinali
Production Managers. Shayan Zeinali, Rezvan Zeinali
Title Designer: Nahid Jafari
Translator: Shoeila Amiri
With the support of the Iranian Youth Cinema Society – RASHT

Arshia Zeinali is an Iranian independent director, filmmaker and actor. He holds a Bachelor of Theater Direction from Soore Art University of Tehran. He regularly participate in international film festivals and his movies have received numerous awards and critical acclaim.

Paola Paleari (b. 1984) is an Italian independent writer, editor and curator based in Copenhagen. She co-curated the Contemporary Art Program 2021-2022 at Vestjyllands Kunstpavillon and has directed the exhibition platform JIR SANDEL since 2018. She writes extensively about contemporary art and between 2013 and 2018 she covered the position of Deputy Editor at YET magazine. Her main area of interest is the photographic language and its relations with contemporary visual culture and art practices. She is also interested in the intersection between critical and creative writing and often intertwines art criticism with other forms of storytelling.

Arshia Zeinali, How Should One Wait for Godot, 2021, 4K HD video and sound, single screen, subtitled, 28 min