If it were necessary to single out one film from the filmography of Andrei Tarkovsky (Yurievets, 1932 – Paris, 1986), if it embodies the filmmaker's main qualities, that work would be Mirror (Zerkalo, 1975). An autobiographical account with a poetic tone, the film owes much of its relevance to the way it brings to life, in the eyes of very different types of viewers throughout the world, the emotion that a memory from the past stirred in its author. As one might imagine, there are many aspects that Mirror shares with the literary cycle of In Search of Lost TimeMarcel Proust's magnum opus was always a point of reference for Tarkovsky and even served as formal inspiration for this particular film. As early as 1977, discussing the evolution of the initial idea from which a film is born, Tarkovsky explained to his students—he was teaching an advanced course in cinematography in Moscow—that the origin of Mirror He was trapped in a recurring dream that haunted him for years. The director himself acknowledged that the film originated from a dream in which he returned, time and again, to his childhood home… and with it to the past that this old dacha seemed to hold within its walls.

Exhibition Andrei Tarkovsky and The Mirror: A Study in a Dream It therefore seeks to approach one of the most complex creative processes imaginable: the endeavor to reach what has already been lost in the past, a journey as desired as it is impossible. For its development, the project is based on an in-depth study of the documentary archives of Andrei Tarkovsky International Institute in Florence related with MirrorAmong these archives, which include behind-the-scenes photographs, the filmmaker's notebooks, images, sketches, and manuscripts of all kinds, the analysis of a series of recently discovered recordings by the filmmaker stands out. These are the Film Lessons by Andrei Tarkovsky, old sound recordings whose study the exhibition's curator is currently working on, José Manuel Mouriño, in collaboration with the Tarkovski Institute itself and the Elías Querejeta Film School of San Sebastián.

Image: © Andrei Tarkovsky International Institute