| Filmography
Parajanov began his career by making the same film
twice and with the same co-director, Yakov Brazelian. Shortly after completing
their diploma film, Moldavian Fairy Tale (1951), shot in the Ukraine,
he assisted his mentor Igor Savchenko on Taras Shevchenko (1951) and then
remade with Brazelian their graduation short as a feature-length children's
film titled Andriesh (1955). Moldavian Fairy Tale appears to be lost,
although Parajanov claimed to have kept a copy at his home in Tbilisi.
Three documentary films followed: Ballad(1957), about a choral group and
made for the anniversary of the 1917 Revolution; Golden Hands (1958),
about folk art and co-directed with two other documentary filmmakers;
and Natalya Ushviy (1959), a portrait of a prominent Ukrainian stage and
screen actress. All three documentaries can be found in the Kiev archive.
His next three feature films at the Dovzhenko Studios -- The First Lad
(1959), Ukrainian Rhapsody(1961), and The Flower on the Stone (1962) --
generally followed the prescribed principles of Socialist Realism, yet
each did contain scenes that went against its grain.
Parajanov's ninth film in Kiev, Shadows of Our
Forgotten Ancestors (1964), caused an uproar by smashing to bits the principles
of Socialist Realism in Soviet cinema. Although awarded at several international
film festivals, it was given only limited release in the Soviet Union.
In trouble with the authorities for also protesting the arrest of Ukrainian
poets and intellectuals, Parajanov accepted an offer from Yerevan to make
a documentary on Akop Ovnatanian (1965), an Armenian portrait painter
who had lived and worked in Tbilisi. Portraits by Ovnatanian were later
incorporated into scenes in Kiev Frescoes (1966), a production interrupted
at the Dovzhenko Studios after a fen weeks of shooting. Only fragments
of Akop Ovnatanian and Kiev Frescoes remain today. The same fate befell
Sayat Nova, shot under primitive conditions in Armenia. When the director's
cut was confiscated, Sergei Yutkevich cut 20 minutes out of the original
in an effort to save the film and re-edited the remainder into The Colour
of the Pomegranate (1969) for limited Moscow release."My masterpiece no
longer exists" (Paradjanov) -- although an attempt has recently been
made in Armenia to reconstruct the original version.
All further attempts to make a film proved in vain.
After years of intrigue and suspicion, Parajanov was arrested in Kiev
on 17 December 1973 and, after a court hearing, sentenced on 25 April
1974 to five years imprisonment at the Dnepropetrovsk camp for hardened
criminals. The charges were given as"business with art objects,""leaning
towards homosexuality,""incitement to suicide," and"black-marketing."
In 1978, as the result of world-wide protests and petitions made by friends
and artists, he was released and allowed to return to his family home
in Tbilisi, but not permitted to find work in a film studio. On 11 February
1982, he was arrested again by the KGB,"for bribing a public official"
to help a nephew gain entrance to the university, and detained in the
Voroshilovgrad prison until November 1982.
After 15 years on a blacklist, Parajanov received
the support of Eduard Shevarnadze, First Secretary of the Georgian Communist
Party, to make the feature The Legend of Suram Fortress(1985), co-directed
by actor Dodo Abakhidze, and the documentary Arabesques on the Theme Pirosmani
(1986) at the Gruziafilm Studio in Tbilisi. His last film, Ashik Kerib
(1988), a Georgian-Armenian-Azerbaijan co-production, has received limited
release in these countries. On 4 June 1989, he began shooting the first
scenes from his autobiographical film, Confession, at his family home
in Tbilisi. Three days later, he was taken to a hospital with respiratory
problems. An operation for lung cancer in Moscow followed, then radiation
treatments in Paris. Sergei Parajanov died on 20 July 1990 at the age
of 66 in Yerevan, where he is buried.
 A
poetic evocation of the life of Armenian poet Sayat Nova
The Color Of Pomegranates: 1969 - 90 min., Color
Sergei Paradjanov (1924-1990) has been acclaimed as the greatest Soviet
filmmaker to appear since the golden age of Eisenstein and Dovzhenko.
His baroque masterpiece, The Color Of Pomegranates, was banned in Russia
for its religious sentiment and nonconformity to"Socialist realism";
its director, a tirelessly outspoken campaigner for human rights, was
convicted on a number of trumped up charges and sentenced to five years
of hard labor in the gulag. A wave of protest from the international film
community led to his release in 1978.
Aesthetically the most extreme film ever made in
the USSR, Pomegranates his hallucinatory epic account of the life of the
18th century Armenian national poet Sayat Nova, conveys the glory of what
a cinema of high art can be like. Conceived as an extraordinarily complex
series of painterly tableaux that recall Byzantine mosaics, the film is
dreamlike icon come-to-life of astonishing beauty and rigor. It evokes
the poet's childhood and youth, his days as a troubadour at the court
of King Heraclius II of Georgia, his retreat to a monastery, his old age
and death.
There has never been a film like this magical work.
The Color of Pomegranates conveys the life of Sayat
Nova, an Armenian troubadour, through lyrical, poetic, and beautifully
constructed imagery. But how does one begin to describe the viewing experience
of such an iconoclastic film? After all, Sergei Paradjanov is fundamentally
an artist, experimenting with film as a moving canvas. In contrast to
the minimalist, unembellished films of neorealism and cinema verite, The
Color of Pomegranates reflects Paradjanov's interpretive, highly idiosyncratic
view of cinema as a medium of high art where the sole reality lies in
conveying emotional truth. Stripped of plot and character dialogue, what
remains is an abstruse, fragmented visual narrative. Sayat Nova's life
is presented in tableaux form, silent and rigid, composed of indelible,
carefully constructed images: a young boy cultivating a love for literature,
his apprenticeship at a rug manufacturer, his discovery of the female
form at a local bath house. The film's repeated, monotonic opening passage
from Sayat Nova's own writings:"I am the man whose life and soul are torture",
resonates through the film, creating a sense of wandering and despair.
There is a glimpse of a great love that ends in tragedy. Episodically,
Sayat Nova's restlessness is reflected in his transitory vocations: a
rug weaver, a court minstrel, a cloistered monk. Inevitably, The Color
of Pomegranates paints a visually sublime and intoxicating portrait of
a tortured artist. That the name of the artist is Sayat Nova, and not
Sergei Paradjanov, is a revelation.
 The
Legend Of Suram Fortress:
1984 - 89 min., Color
Based on ancient legend, this dazzling film by
visionary Soviet director Sergei Paradjanov is a surreal ode to the Georgian
warriors throughout the ages who dies for their country. Repeated efforts
by the Georgian people to construct a defensive stronghold continually
fail. The building collapse until a fortune teller remembers an old prophecy
that the son of her erstwhile lover must be bricked up alive in order
for the fortress to stand.
 Ashik
Kerib:
1988 - 75 min., Color
In recounting Lermontov's fable of a wandering
minstrel, trying to earn enough money to marry the girl he loves, Paradjanov
dispenses with conventional storytelling devices in order to present a
boldly unique cinematic experience. Glorious tableaux, exquisitely composed,
choreographed and photographed, are combined with intertitles, images
of early Russian artwork and a haunting blend of traditional and contemporary
musical forms, to create an enthralling and utterly unforgettable film.
 Paradjanov:
A Requiem:
1994 - 60 min. - Documentary
Directors: Ron Holloway (Germany)
An absorbing portrait of one of the most colorful
and revered figures in world cinema, Paradjanov: A Requiem: offers an
affectionate and insightful look at the tumultuous career of the late
Sergei Paradjanov -- artist, dissident, romantic and iconoclast.
From his early years as a protégé of silent film legends
Dozhenko and Eisenstein, Paradjanov charts the evolution of the controversial
director's artistry, which culminated in the creation of brilliant, hallucinatory
film fantasies of Ukranian poetry andifolk legends. Rather than being
celebrated for this mesmerizing work, the Armenian director was branded
a"surrealist" by Soviet authorities and imprisoned for his artistic
and intellectual challenges to the reigning dogma of socialist realism.
Rare, extensive interviews with the outspoken director are laced with
clips from Paradjanov's filmic seductions of the eye and imagination,
including Ashik Kerib, The Legend of Suram Fortress, Shadows of Forgotten
Ancestors. Scenes from the director's earlier films, unavailable in the
west (such as Andriesh, The First Lad, Ukrainian Rhapsody), can be seen
for the first time. Drawings, photographs and fragments of uncompleted
films coalesce to make Paradjanov: A Requiem a revealing account of an
unforgettable artist.
Sergey Parajanov's Films:
"Confession" 1989-1990
... unfinished, autobiographical film,
"Ashik Kerib" 1988
...19th century tale of extraordinary beauty, a theme by poet Mikhail
Lermontov...
"Arabesques on Pirosmani Theme" 1985/86
...the world of Pirosmani, his paintings through the eyes of Maestro...
"Legend of Suram Fortress" 1984
...an ancient and fascinating Georgian legend...
"Children to Komitas" 1968
...a lost Parajanov film, sent by him to UNICEF and missing ever since...
"Sayat Nova/Color of Pomegranate"
1968
...Absolute Masterpiece of Parajanov, about ancient Armenian poet...
"Hakop Hovnatanian 1967
...an amazingly beautiful documentary about 18th century Armenian painter...
"Kiev Frescos" 1966
...a genius Parajanov film, shut down by authorities, starring his son
Suren Parajanov...
"Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" 1964
...1st feature Masterpiece of Parajanov, British Academy Award winner...
"Flower on the Stone" 1962
...a story of a little town and a sudden war between religion and politics...
"Ukrainian Rhapsody" 1961
...a simple girl becomes a famous singer...
"Golden Hands" 1960
...portrays Ukrainian folk art...
"Natalia Uzhvy" 1959
...a documentary about an actress Natalia Uzhviy...
"The First Guy" 1958
...a wonderful film about love and passion in a village...
"Dumka" 1958
...live classic music concert...
"Andriesh" 1954
...a magical tale about the good and the evil,
Parajanov's film for children...
"Moldavian Tale"
...Parajanov's 1st know film,
Sergei PARAJANOV SCRIPTS :
"Confession"
"Ara the Beautiful"
"David of Sasun"
"The Martyrdom of Shushanik"
"The Treasures at Mount Ararat"
"Miracle of Odense"
"Golden Edge" |
