13 A Ludodrama about Walter Benjamin

During the last seven years of his life, Walter Benjamin lived in exile in France. This intellectual giant who dedicated his rich inner life to studying the contradictions of the 20th century saw Europe crumble while creating his main work. The film by Carlos Ferrand, animated by the spirit of Benjamin, traces freely the last seven years of his life in Paris. 13 chapters of adventurous essays outline a portrait of the philosopher. The film is composed of notes, quotations and varied styles, ranging from the film archive to the animation, to its correspondence with Arendt, Adorno and Brecht. Ferrand uses the places where Benjamin lived as well as fragments of the book «The Book of the Passages». Everything ended tragically, both for Europe and for Benjamin himself, but thanks to his insistence on protecting freedom of thought, it was the Jewish-German thinking that had the last word. A word more necessary than ever. (Festival Cinema Jueu)