Sergei Parajanov

Parajanov was born to Armenian parents in Tiflis, Georgian SSR. He studied at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow under the tutelage of Ukrainian filmmakers Igor Savchenko and Oleksandr Dovzhenko, and began his career as professional film director in 1954. Parajanov became increasingly disenchanted of his films as well as the state sanctioned art style of socialist realism, prominent throughout the Soviet Union. The film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965), Parajanov's first major work which diverged from socialist realism, gave him international acclaim. He would later disown and proclaim his films made before 1965 as "garbage". Parajanov's subsequent film, The Color of Pomegranates (1969), was met with widespread acclaim among filmmakers and is often considered one of the greatest films ever made. The Soviet authorities claimed Parajanov was bisexual, which exposed him to increased legal scrutiny over his personal life, films, and political involvement surrounding Ukrainian nationalism. Nearly all of Parajanov's film projects from 1965 to 1973 were banned by the Soviet film administrations, many without discussion.

Sergei Parajanov studied at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. Roman Balayan is recorded as having studied under Sergei Parajanov. The recorded working language is Russian. The field of work recorded is cinematography, visual arts and film. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are Soviet New Wave. Works named in the authority record are Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and The Color of Pomegranates. Distinctions recorded are People's Artist of the Armenian SSR, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, Shevchenko National Prize and National legend of Ukraine.

• Name — Sergei Parajanov • Birth Name — Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov • Born — 9 January 1924 • Birthplace — Tiflis, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union • Died — 20 July 1990 • Place of death — Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union • Resting Place — Komitas Pantheon, Yerevan, Armenia • Occupation — * Film director • screenwriter • Years Active — 1951–1990 • Children — 1 • Website — https: www.parajanov.com

• Illustration — Parajanov's childhood house in Tbilisi Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov was born to artistically inclined Armenian parents Iosif Parajanov and Siranush Bejanova on January 9, 1924, in Tiflis, known as Tbilisi since 1936, the capital of the Georgian SSR of the Soviet Union. Iosif was a merchant who owned an antique shop, trading jewelry and valuables. Due to the Soviet Union's ban on financial speculation, Iosif's business was frequently subjected to arbitrary searches by the authorities, who often raided his business and seized many of his valuables. Because it was impossible for Iosif to get his trading business legalised, a young Parajanov was often forced to swallow small jewelry pieces and defecate them once authorities withdrew from their search. Parajanov attended a local railway college before running away to attend the Tbilisi State Conservatoire. In 1945, he was transferred to the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied alongside soprano Nina Dorliak. Parajanov left the conservatory to enroll at the directing department at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography; he studied under the tutelage of Ukrainian filmmakers Igor Savchenko and Alexander Dovzhenko. The Soviet authorities accused Parajanov of being bisexual. In 1948, he was arrested and charged with illegal homosexual acts with MGB officer Nikolai Mikava in Tbilisi. He was sentenced to five years in prison and released under an amnesty after three months. In video interviews, friends and relatives contest the truthfulness of anything Parajanov was charged with; they believe his sentencing was procured through a kangaroo court due to his tendency for political retaliation and rebellious views. In 1950, Parajanov married Nigyar Kerimova, who came from a Muslim Tatar family, in Moscow. Nigyar's relatives, who disapproved of the marriage, murdered her after she converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Parajanov subsequently moved to Kiev, where he produced a few Russian- and Ukrainian-language documentaries (Dumka, Golden Hands, Natalia Uzhvy), and a handful of narrative films: Andriesh, The Top Guy, Ukrainian Rhapsody, and Flower on the Stone. He became fluent in Ukrainian and married Svitlana Ivanivna Shcherbatiuk (1938–2020) in 1956. The couple had a son named Suran (1958–2021). In a 1988 interview, Parajanov stated, "Everyone knows that I have three motherlands. I was born in Georgia, worked in Ukraine and I'm going to die in Armenia."

Andrei Tarkovsky's first film, Ivan's Childhood, had an enormous impact on Parajanov's self-discovery as a filmmaker. Later the influence became mutual, and he and Tarkovsky became close friends. Another influence was Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, whom Parajanov would later describe as "like a God" to him and a director of "majestic style". In 1965 Parajanov abandoned socialist realism and directed the poetic Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, his first film over which he had complete creative control. It won numerous international awards and was well received by the Soviet authorities, who praised the film for "conveying the poetic quality and philosophical depth of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky’s tale through the language of cinema," and called it "a brilliant creative success of the Dovzhenko film studio." Authorities allowed the release of the film with its original Ukrainian soundtrack intact, rather than redubbing the dialogue into Russian for Soviet-wide release, in order to preserve its Ukrainian integrity. (Russian dubbing was standard practice at that time for non-Russian Soviet films when they were distributed outside the republic of origin.) In 1969, Parajanov moved to Armenia to work on his next film; this was the first time he had visited the country and instilled in him the influence to direct Sayat Nova. It was shot under relatively poor conditions and had a very small budget. Unlike Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Sayat Nova was not well received by the authorities, who were quick to intervene, and ban the film for its allegedly inflammatory content and lack of socialist realism. Parajanov re-edited the film and renamed it The Color of Pomegranates.

• Illustration — Mugshot of Parajanov Since the early 1960s, Parajanov had increasingly become the subject of attention by the KGB, for a variety of political activities related to his affinity towards Ukrainian nationalism. He was an active protester following the 1965–1966 Ukrainian purge. In 1969, a report by the Committee for State Security to the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist party indicated their belief that Parajanov was a negative influence on his younger colleagues, as well as a key purveyor of ideologically harmful opinion. He was also deemed as someone with a desire to defect if he were to travel abroad. In December 1973, Parajanov was arrested in Kiev and was accused of homosexuality, sodomy, and propagation of pornography. He was sentenced to five years in a hard labour camp. Three days before Parajanov was due to be sentenced, Tarkovsky wrote a letter to the Central Committee, asserting that "In the last ten years Sergei Parajanov has made only two films: Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors and The Colour of Pomegranates. They have influenced cinema first in Ukraine, second in this country as a whole, and third in the world at large. Artistically, there are few people in the entire world who could replace Parajanov. He is guilty – guilty of his solitude. We are guilty of not thinking of him daily and of failing to discover the significance of a master." An eclectic group of artists, actors, filmmakers and activists protested on behalf of Parajanov, calling for his immediate release. Among them were Tarkovsky, Pasolini, Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Leonid Gaidai, Eldar Ryazanov, Yves Saint Laurent, Marcello Mastroianni, Françoise Sagan, Heinrich Böll, Louis Aragon, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Mikhail Vartanov. Because of his homosexuality, he had very low status among the inmates, and was beaten. Nevertheless, he soon gained respect from others: Parajanov served four years out of his five-year sentence, and later credited his early release to the efforts made by Aragon, Elsa Triolet, and John Updike. Parajanov's early release was authorized by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, presumably as a result of the latter's meeting with Aragon and Triolet at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. When asked by Brezhnev if he could be of any assistance, Aragon requested the release of Parajanov, which was finalized by December 1977. • Illustration — Parajanov Oil on Canvas 1994 While he was incarcerated, Parajanov produced a large number of miniature doll-like sculptures (some of which were lost) and some 800 drawings and collages, many of which were later displayed at the Sergei Parajanov Museum in Yerevan, Armenia, where they are now permanently located. His efforts in the camp were repeatedly compromised by prison guards, who deprived him of materials and called him mad, their cruelty only subsiding after a statement from Moscow admitting that "the director is very talented." After his return from prison to Tbilisi, the close watch of the Soviet authorities prevented Parajanov from continuing his cinematic pursuits and compelled him towards other artistic outlets he had nurtured during his time in prison. He crafted extraordinarily intricate collages, created a large collection of abstract drawings and pursued numerous other avenues of non-cinematic art, sewing more dolls and some whimsical suits. In February 1982, Parajanov was once again arrested on charges of bribery, which happened to coincide with his return to Moscow for the premiere of a play commemorating Vladimir Vysotsky at the Taganka Theatre. He was released in less than a year, with his health seriously weakened.

In 1985, the slow thaw within the Soviet Union spurred Parajanov to resume his passion for cinema. With the encouragement of various Georgian intellectuals, he directed the multi-award-winning film The Legend of Suram Fortress, along with Dodo Abashidze, based on a novella by Daniel Chonkadze. This was his first return to cinema since Sayat-Nova fifteen years earlier. In 1988, Parajanov and Abashidze directed Ashik Kerib, based on a story by Mikhail Lermontov. It is the story of a wandering minstrel, set in the Azerbaijani culture. Parajanov dedicated the film to Tarkovsky and "to all the children of the world".

Parajanov died of lung cancer in Yerevan on July 20, 1990, aged 66. His final work, The Confession, was left unfinished. It survives in its original negative as Parajanov: The Last Spring, created by Vartanov in 1992. Fellini, Mastroianni, Tonino Guerra, Francesco Rosi, Alberto Moravia, Giulietta Masina and Bernardo Bertolucci were among those who publicly mourned his death. They sent a telegram to Russia with the following statement: "The world of cinema has lost a magician. Parajanov’s fantasy will forever fascinate and bring joy to the people of the world…”.

• Year — English title — Original title — Romanization — Notes • 1951 — Moldavian Tale — In Russian: Молдавская сказка In Ukrainian: Moлдавська байка — Moldavskaya skazka Moldavska baika — Graduate short film; lost • 1954 — Andriesh — In Russian: Андриеш — Andriesh — Co-directed with Yakov Bazelyan; feature-length remake of Moldavian Tale • 1958 — Dumka — In Ukrainian: Думка — Dumka — Documentary • 1958 — The First Lad (aka The Top Guy) — In Russian: Первый парень In Ukrainian: Перший пapyбок — Pervyj paren Pershyi parubok • 1959 — Natalya Ushvij — In Russian: Наталия Ужвий — Natalia Uzhvij — Documentary • 1960 — Golden Hands — In Russian: Золотые руки — Zolotye ruki — Documentary • 1961 — Ukrainian Rhapsody — In Russian: Украинская рапсодия In Ukrainian: Укpaїнськa рaпсодія — Ukrainskaya rapsodiya Ukrainska rapsodiya • 1962 — Flower on the Stone — In Russian: Цветок на камне In Ukrainian: Квітка на камені — Tsvetok na kamne Kvitka na kameni — Co-directed with Anatoly Slesarenko • 1965 — Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors — In Ukrainian: Тіні забутих предків — Tini zabutykh predkiv • 1965 — Kyiv Frescoes — In Ukrainian: Київські фрески In Russian: Киевские фрески — Kyivski fresky Kievskie freski — Banned during pre-production; 15 minutes of auditions survive • 1967 — Hakob Hovnatanian — In Armenian: Հակոբ Հովնաթանյան — Hakob Hovnatanyan — Short film portrait of the 19th century Armenian artist Hakob Hovnatanyan • 1968 — Children to Komitas — In Armenian: Երեխաներ Կոմիտասին — Yerekhaner Komitasin — Documentary for UNICEF; lost • 1969 — The Color of Pomegranates — In Armenian: Նռան գույնը — Nran guyne — Originally titled Sayat-Nova • 1985 — The Legend of Suram Fortress — In Georgian: ამბავი სურამის ციხისა — Ambavi Suramis tsikhisa • 1985 — Arabesques on the Pirosmani Theme — In Georgian: არაბესკები ფიროსმანის თემაზე In Russian: Арабески на тему Пиросмани — Arabeskebi Pirosmanis temaze Arabeski na temu Pirosmani — Short film portrait of the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani • 1988 — Ashik Kerib — In Georgian: აშიკი ქერიბი In Azerbaijani: Aşıq Qərib — Ashiki Keribi • 1989–1990 — The Confession — In Armenian: Խոստովանանք — Khostovanank — Unfinished; original negative survives in Mikhail Vartanov's Parajanov: The Last Spring

• Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Тіні забутих предків, 1965, co-written with Ivan Chendei, based on the novelette by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky) • Kyiv Frescoes (Київські фрески, 1965) • Sayat Nova (Саят-Нова, 1969, original production screenplay of The Color of Pomegranates) • The Confession (сповідь, 1969–1989) • Studies About Vrubel (Этюды о Врубеле, 1989, depiction of Mikhail Vrubel's Kyiv period, co-written and directed by Leonid Osyka) • Swan Lake: The Zone (Лебедине озеро. Зона, 1989, filmed in 1990, directed by Yuriy Illienko, cinematographer of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors)

• The Dormant Palace (Дремлющий дворец, 1969, based on Pushkin's poem The Fountain of Bakhchisaray) • Intermezzo (1972, based on Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky's short story) • Icarus (Икар, 1972) • The Golden Edge (Золотой обрез, 1972) • Ara the Beautiful (Ара Прекрасный, 1972, based on the poem by 20th century Armenian poet Nairi Zaryan about Ara the Beautiful) • Demon (Демон, 1972, based on Lermontov's eponymous poem) • The Miracle of Odense (Чудо в Оденсе, 1973, loosely based on the life and works of Hans Christian Andersen) • David of Sasun (Давид Сасунский, mid-1980s, based on Armenian epic poem David of Sasun) • The Martyrdom of Shushanik (Мученичество Шушаник, 1987, based on Georgian chronicle by Iakob Tsurtaveli) • The Treasures of Mount Ararat (Сокровища у горы Арарат) Among his projects, there were also plans for adapting Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Goethe's Faust, and the Old East Slavic poem The Tale of Igor's Campaign, but the film scripts for these were never completed.

Sergei Parajanov was recorded at birth as სერგეი (სერგო) ფარაჯანოვი. The authorities additionally record the headings Sergei Paradzhanov, Sergei Paradjanov, Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov, Serhii Paradzhanov and Sarkis Paradzhanian. His recorded language was Russian.

Works recorded as notable number 2: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and The Color of Pomegranates. His recorded genre is Soviet New Wave.

Sergei Parajanov is recorded as having received People's Artist of the Armenian SSR, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR and Shevchenko National Prize.

• Parajanov's life story provides (quite loosely) the basis for the 2006 novel Stet by the American author James Chapman. • Lady Gaga's video for "911" visually references The Color of Pomegranates through much of the video. The film poster also appears on the street scene at the end of the video. Gaga's video presents the film's symbols in her own allegory of pain. • Madonna's 1995 music video Bedtime Story restages some of the content from the movie (such as the scene of a young child lying in a fetal position on a pentagram on the floor while an adult covers it with a blanket, and another where a naked foot crushes a bunch of grapes lying on an enscribed tablet), among other artistic inspiration depicting dreams and surrealist artwork in the video. • Without permission Nicolas Jaar released, in 2015, the album Pomegranates, intended as an alternative soundtrack for The Color of Pomegranates and was asked by the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute to cancel the performance in Los Angeles. • The Color of Pomegranates also influenced the alternative rock group R.E.M.'s music video for "Losing My Religion".

• Dixon, Wheeler & Foster, Gwendolyn. "A Short History of Film." New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2008. • Cook, David A. "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: Film as Religious Art." Post Script 3, no. 3 (1984): 16–23. • First, Joshua. Sergei Paradjanov: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. London and Chicago: Itellect; University of Chicago Press, 2016. • Jayamanne, Laleen. Poetic Cinema and the Spirit of the Gift in the Films of Pabst, Parajanov, Kubrick and Ruiz. Amsterdam University Press 2021. • Kim, Olga. “Cinema and Painting in Parajanov’s Aesthetic Metamorphoses.” Studies in Russian & Soviet Cinema 12, no. 1 (March 2018): 19–36. doi:10.1080/17503132.2017.1415519. • Nebesio, Bohdan. "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: Storytelling in the Novel and the Film." Literature/Film Quarterly 22, no. 1 (1994): 42–49. • Oeler, Karla. "A Collective Interior Monologue: Sergei Parajanov and Eisenstein's Joyce-Inspired Vision of Cinema." The Modern Language Review 101, no. 2 (April 2006): 472–487. • Oeler, Karla. "Nran guyne/The Colour of Pomegranates: Sergo Parajanov, USSR, 1969." In The Cinema of Russia and the Former Soviet Union, 139–148. London, England: Wallflower, 2006. [Book chapter] • Papazian, Elizabeth A. "Ethnography, Fairytale and ‘Perpetual Motion’ in Sergei Paradjanov's Ashik- Kerib." Literature/Film Quarterly 34, no. 4 (2006): 303–12. • Paradjanov, Sergei. Seven Visions. Edited by Galia Ackerman. Translated by Guy Bennett. Los Angeles: Green Integer, 1998., • Parajanov, Sergei, and Zaven Sarkisian. Parajanov Kaleidoscope: Drawings, Collages, Assemblages. Yerevan: Sergei Parajanov Museum, 2008. • Razlogov, Kirill. “Parajanov in Prison: An Exercise in Transculturalism.” Studies in Russian & Soviet Cinema 12, no. 1 (March 2018): 37–57. doi:10.1080/17503132.2018.1422223. • Steffen, James. The Cinema of Sergei Parajanov. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2013. • Steffen, James, ed. Sergei Parajanov special issue. Armenian Review 47/48, nos. 3–4/1–2 (2001/2002). Double issue; publisher website • Steffen, James. "Kyiv Frescoes: Sergei Parajanov's Unrealized Film Project." KinoKultura Special Issue 9: Ukrainian Cinema (December 2009), online. URL: KinoKultura • Schneider, Steven Jay. "501 Movie Directors." London: Hachette/Cassell, 2007.

• Vartanov, Mikhail. "Les Cimes du Monde." Cahiers du Cinéma" no. 381, 1986 (French language) • Bullot, Érik. Sayat Nova de Serguei Paradjanov: La face et le profil. Crisnée, Belgium: Éditions Yellow Now, 2007. (French language) • Cazals, Patrick. Serguei Paradjanov. Paris: Cahiers du cinéma, 1993. (French language), • Chernenko, Miron. Sergei Paradzhanov: Tvorcheskii portret. Moskva: "Soiuzinformkino" Goskino SSSR, 1989. (Russian language) Online version • Grigorian, Levon. Paradzhanov. Moscow: Molodaia gvardiia, 2011. (Russian language), • Grigorian, Levon. Tri tsveta odnoi strasti: Triptikh Sergeia Paradzhanova. Moscow: Kinotsentr, 1991. (Russian language) • Kalantar, Karen. Ocherki o Paradzhanove. Yerevan: Gitutiun NAN RA, 1998. (Russian language) • Katanian, Vasilii Vasil’evich. Paradzhanov: Tsena vechnogo prazdnika. Nizhnii Novgorod: Dekom, 2001. (Russian language) • Liehm, Antonín J., ed. Serghiej Paradjanov: Testimonianze e documenti su l’opera e la vita. Venice: La Biennale di Venezia/Marsilio, 1977. (Italian language) • Mechitov, Yuri. Sergei Paradzhanov: Khronika dialoga. Tbilisi: GAMS- print, 2009. (Russian language) • Paradzhanov, Sergei. Ispoved’. Edited by Kora Tsereteli. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2001. (Russian language) • Paradzhanov, Sergei, and Garegin Zakoian. Pis'ma iz zony. Yerevan: Fil’madaran, 2000. (Russian language) • Simyan, Tigran Sergei Parajanov as a Text: Man, Habitus, and Interior (on the material of visual texts) ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics 2019, N 3, pp. 197–215 • Schneider, Steven Jay. "501 Directores de Cine." Barcelona, Spain: Grijalbo, 2008. • Tsereteli, Kora, ed. Kollazh na fone avtoportreta: Zhizn'–igra. 2nd ed. Nizhnii Novgorod: Dekom, 2008. (Russian language) • Vartanov, Mikhail. "Sergej Paradzanov." In "Il Cinema Delle Repubbliche Transcaucasiche Sovietiche." Venice, Italy: Marsilio Editori, 1986. (Italian language)