Sergei Parajanov


Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. His films are known for their poetic, non-linear, and symbolic nature. Widely considered by filmmakers, film critics, and film historians to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, he has been described as a "magician", a "master", and a "conjurer of cinematic worlds".
Parajanov was born to Armenian parents in Georgia. 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, 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, 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.
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Biography

Image:ParajanovHouseTbilisi.JPG|thumb|right|Parajanov childhood house in Tbilisi
Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov was born to artistically inclined Armenians Iosif Parajanov and Siranush Bejanova on January 9, 1924, in the Georgian city of Tiflis, which has been known by Tbilisi since 1936. Georgia was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union at the time. 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. He was later transferred to the Moscow Conservatory in 1945, where he studied alongside soprano Nina Dorliak. Parajanov left the conservatory to enroll at the directing department at the S. A. Gerasimov All-Russian University 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, Parajanov 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, Ukraine, where he produced a few Russian- and Ukrainian-language documentaries , 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 in 1956. The couple had a son named Suran.
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."

Break from Socialist Realism

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.
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.''

Imprisonment, career hiatus, and other artistic ambitions

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 is 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, he 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 of the Communist Party of Ukraine, 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, 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, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Mikhail Vartanov.
Parajanov served four years out of his five-year sentence, and later credited his early release to the efforts made by the French Surrealist poet and novelist Louis Aragon, Aragon's wife Elsa Triolet, and the American writer 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.
While he was incarcerated, Parajanov produced a large number of miniature doll-like sculptures 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.

Short return to cinema

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 his close friend Andrei Tarkovsky and "to all the children of the world".

Death

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 his close friend Mikhail Vartanov in 1992. Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra, Francesco Rosi, Alberto Moravia, Giulietta Masina, Marcello Mastroianni 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…”.

Legacy

Parajanov's films are ranked among the greatest films of all time by Sight & Sound. He won prizes at Mar del Plata Film Festival, Istanbul International Film Festival, Nika Awards, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival, São Paulo International Film Festival and others. A comprehensive retrospective in the UK took place in 2010 at BFI Southbank. The retrospective was curated by Layla Alexander-Garrett and the Parajanov specialist Elisabetta Fabrizi who commissioned a Parajanov inspired new commission in the BFI Gallery by the contemporary artist Matt Collishaw. A symposium was dedicated to Parajanov's work, bringing together experts to discuss and celebrate the director's contribution to cinema and art.
Parajanov was highly appreciated by Andrei Tarkovsky himself in the biographical film "Voyage in Time". In the same film Tarkovsky stated that Parajanov is one of his favorite filmmakers.
Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni stated that “The Color of Pomegranates by Parajanov, in my opinion one of the best contemporary film directors, strikes with its perfection of beauty.” Parajanov was also admired by the American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. French film director Jean-Luc Godard also stated that "In the temple of cinema, there are images, light, and reality. Sergei Parajanov was the master of that temple".
Despite having many admirers of his art, his vision did not attract many followers. "Whoever tries to imitate me is lost", he reportedly said. However, directors such as Theo Angelopoulos, Béla Tarr and Mohsen Makhmalbaf share Parajanov's approach to film as a primarily visual medium rather than as a narrative tool.
The Parajanov-Vartanov Institute was established in Hollywood in 2010 to study, preserve and promote the artistic legacies of Sergei Parajanov and Mikhail Vartanov.
In 2024, marking the 100th anniversary of Parajanov's birth, Ukrainian film maker Taras Tomenko made the documentary "A Sentimental Journey to the Parajanov Planet". The film premiered internationally at the 40th Warsaw Film Festival where it won the 3rd place in the Audience Award for documentary films.

Screenplays

Partially produced screenplays

  • Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
  • Kyiv Frescoes
  • Sayat Nova
  • The Confession
  • Studies About Vrubel
  • ''Swan Lake: The Zone''

Unproduced screenplays

  • The Dormant Palace
  • Intermezzo
  • Icarus
  • The Golden Edge
  • Ara the Beautiful
  • Demon
  • The Miracle of Odense
  • David of Sasun
  • The Martyrdom of Shushanik
  • The Treasures of Mount Ararat
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.

Awards and recognition

  • There is a statue of Parajanov in Tbilisi.
  • There is a plaque on the wall of Parajanov's childhood home.
  • The street where Parajanov grew up, Kote Meskhi street, was renamed Parajanov Street in 2021.
  • There is a house museum dedicated to Parajanov in Yerevan, Armenia.
  • Shevchenko National Prize.
  • National Legend of Ukraine.

English language sources

  • 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 : 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 : 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 : 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 : 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.
  • Papazian, Elizabeth A. "Ethnography, Fairytale and ‘Perpetual Motion’ in Sergei Paradjanov's Ashik- Kerib." Literature/Film Quarterly 34, no. 4 : 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 : 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. Double issue;
  • Steffen, James. "Kyiv Frescoes: Sergei Parajanov's Unrealized Film Project." KinoKultura Special Issue 9: Ukrainian Cinema, online. URL:
  • Schneider, Steven Jay. "501 Movie Directors." London: Hachette/Cassell, 2007.

Foreign language sources

  • Vartanov, Mikhail. "Les Cimes du Monde." Cahiers du Cinéma" no. 381, 1986
  • Bullot, Érik. Sayat Nova de Serguei Paradjanov: La face et le profil. Crisnée, Belgium: Éditions Yellow Now, 2007.
  • Cazals, Patrick. Serguei Paradjanov. Paris: Cahiers du cinéma, 1993.,
  • Chernenko, Miron. Sergei Paradzhanov: Tvorcheskii portret. Moskva: "Soiuzinformkino" Goskino SSSR, 1989.
  • Grigorian, Levon. Paradzhanov. Moscow: Molodaia gvardiia, 2011.,
  • Grigorian, Levon. Tri tsveta odnoi strasti: Triptikh Sergeia Paradzhanova. Moscow: Kinotsentr, 1991.
  • Kalantar, Karen. Ocherki o Paradzhanove. Yerevan: Gitutiun NAN RA, 1998.
  • Katanian, Vasilii Vasil’evich. Paradzhanov: Tsena vechnogo prazdnika. Nizhnii Novgorod: Dekom, 2001.
  • Liehm, Antonín J., ed. Serghiej Paradjanov: Testimonianze e documenti su l’opera e la vita. Venice: La Biennale di Venezia/Marsilio, 1977.
  • Mechitov, Yuri. Sergei Paradzhanov: Khronika dialoga. Tbilisi: GAMS- print, 2009.
  • Paradzhanov, Sergei. Ispoved’. Edited by Kora Tsereteli. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2001.
  • Paradzhanov, Sergei, and Garegin Zakoian. Pis’ma iz zony. Yerevan: Fil’madaran, 2000.
  • 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.
  • Vartanov, Mikhail. "Sergej Paradzanov." In "Il Cinema Delle Repubbliche Transcaucasiche Sovietiche." Venice, Italy: Marsilio Editori, 1986.