On January 23, French cameraman and film director Patrick Casals spoke at the National Library of Armenia. The large hall named after Alexander Tamanyan was full of fans of Sergei Parajanov and French cinema. The audience watched the film by Patrick Casals Sergei Parajanov. The Rebel (2003) and the short film The Adventures of Monsieur Sartre and Madame de Beauvoir in the Caucasus (2003). Garegin Zakoyan presented two films by Casals to the audience for the first time. After him, Guillaume Narjolet, Counselor for Culture and Cooperation of the French Embassy in Armenia, delivered a welcoming speech.

Patrick Casals knew Sergei Parajanov closely and communicated with him for many years. Back in 1988, Patrick Casals was one of the first to make a film dedicated to Parajanov. In Paris and during his trips, he met Parajanov many times and attended his farewell and funeral in Yerevan. Spectators watched with great interest the director’s film The Adventures of Monsieur Sartre and Madame de Beauvoir in the Caucasus (2003), which tells about the events of 1963 — the visit of the famous French philosopher, writer Jean-Paul Sartre and his wife, writer Simone de Beauvoir to Armenia, Georgia, and Lithuania. In the film, writer, literary critic, and translator Alexander Topchyan shares his memories of the famous couple’s visit to Armenia.

At the end of the film screening, Patrick Casals answered questions from film fans. The event was also attended by the cultural attaché of the French Embassy in Armenia, the executive director of the French Institute of Armenia David Tours, the head of cultural programs of the French Embassy in Armenia Alexandre Clouzot, and others.