This is a true trans-Caucasus venture, produced by a Georgian studio and directed by an ethnic Armenian who selected Azerbaijani as the language of his film-simply because he loves the sound of it. As if to combine Sayat Nova and Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors, here is a film about art and the all-conquering power of love. Ashik Kerib, a poor singer and saz (Turkish guitar) player, when denied the hand of the woman he loves, sets out on a ten-year journey. The film recounts the adventures of the wandering minstrel. "Life, which easily turns into a dream, and the dream which easily turns into life, with all its inexplicabilities and intuitions, mysterious prophesies of misfortune and happiness, the ability to foresee the future or the belief in inevitable retribution-all this has been defined by Alberto Farassino as the 'Magic Surrealism' in Paradjanov's work....In Paradjanov's own mystic tradition and symbolic language, the story by Lermontov is transformed into real and invented, magnificent, all-eclipsing art." (Kora Zereteli, for Munich Film Festival)