Hakob Hovnatanyan
Sergei Parajanov—a director with painterly inclinations—studies the works of the 19th-century Armenian portrait artist. He is a meticulous researcher: he looks with an unhurried eye, moving back and forth between the general and the specific, following related motifs. He creates a collage of hands, faces, and eyes. He combines the artist’s works with his own pictures—painted with a camera.
Sergei Parajanov
Sergei Parajanov (1924–1990) was a Soviet director of Armenian origin. He studied directing at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. He had a breakthrough in his life and career after watching Andrei Tarkovsky’s Ivan’s Childhood, after which he made Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, the first film that was completely his own. Although he had many supporters throughout the world, he was persecuted in the Soviet Union, and he spent many years in prison.
Selected filmography
1965 Cienie zapomnianych przodków / Tini zabutykh predkiv / Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
1966 Kijowskie freski / Kivski Freski / Kiev Frescoes (short)
1969 Kwiat granatu / Sayat Nova / The Colour of Pomegranates
1985 Arabeski na temat Pirosmaniego / Arabeskebi Pirosmanis temaze / Arabesques on the Pirosmani Theme (doc., short)
1985 Legenda twierdzy suramijskiej / Ambavi Suramis tsikhitsa / The Legend of Suram Fortress (co-dir.)