Jean Cocteau has always been a singular filmmaker to me; the way he perceived the world was entirely his own. I remember rewatching The Testament of Orpheus and being profoundly struck by its sheer poetic force. Soon after, I began reading Cocteau’s plays in English, discovering a universe where everything was steeped in myth, poetry, and metaphor. I deeply believed that his work needed to be read by a Persian-speaking audience. So, alongside a talented friend, I decided to translate a selection of his plays and articles. Our translation of The Infernal Machine was honored with the Youth Book of the Year Award, and shortly after, The Eagle with Two Heads was published. Our journey with Cocteau didn’t end there. We have also translated several of his cinematic articles, which will be published very soon. For us, this is how we repay our debt to an artist we love: by reading his poetry aloud for others to hear. As Cocteau himself beautifully put it: “Art must astonish and bewilder. Cinema is a magical place that grants the actor the power to transmit dreams and thoughts to the spectator through a kind of hypnosis. Long live cinema, this modern poetry that contains the mysteries of dreams and renders the unreal real.”
