Sergei Parajanov: Centennial Celebration

November 1–22, 2024

This is a centennial tribute to the legendary Armenian poet-filmmaker Sergei Parajanov, who worked across transnational boundaries and struggled against the Soviet authorities, who banned and censored his films. A one-day symposium on November 2 will bring scholars and experts to Berkeley to speak about Parajanov’s life and work.

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The Color of Pomegranates
Ashik Kerib
The Legend of Suram Fortress
Sergei Parajanov: The Rebel

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Past
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Past
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Upcoming Films

Ashik Kerib
Dodo Abashidze, Sergei Parajanov
USSR, 1988
Friday, November 22 7:00 PM
The film recounts the adventures of a wandering minstrel. “In [Sergei] Parajanov’s own mystic tradition and symbolic language, the story by [Mikhail] Lermontov is transformed into real and invented, magnificent, all-eclipsing art” (Kora Zereteli, Munich Film Festival).
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Past Events

Saturday, November 2, 2:30–5:30 PM
Sergei Parajanov Symposium

Five experts join BAMPFA’s Sergei Parajanov: Centennial Celebration to discuss the filmmaker’s multifaceted legacy.

BAMPFA

Cosponsored by BAMPFA; the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES); the Berkeley Armenian Studies Program; and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Past Films

The Color of Pomegranates
Sergei Parajanov
USSR, 1969
Digital Restoration
Friday, November 1 7:00 PM
This magical work, rich in period music, reimagines Armenian history and culture through the life and writings of its greatest poet. “Watching [it] is like opening a door and walking into another dimension, where time has stopped and beauty has been unleashed” (Martin Scorsese). Shown with two rarely screened short films, Kyiv Frescoes and Hakob Hovnatanyan.
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Sergei Parajanov Symposium
Cosponsored by BAMPFA; the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES); the Berkeley Armenian Studies Program; and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Saturday, November 2 2:30—5:30 PM
Myrna Douzjian, Olga Kim, Harsha Ram, James Steffen, and Patrick Cazals in Conversation
Five experts join BAMPFA’s Sergei Parajanov: Centennial Celebration to discuss the filmmaker’s multifaceted legacy.
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Sergei Parajanov: The Rebel
Patrick Cazals
France, 2003
Sunday, November 3 4:30 PM
Patrick Cazals in Person
This insightful portrait of a wounded, but fiercely independent Sergei Parajanov deals with his various talents as a painter, designer, and collage artist. Followed by Parajanov’s rare short film Arabesque on the Pirosmani Theme and Patrick Cazals’s portrait of Parajanov’s muse, Georgian actor Sofiko Chiaureli.
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The Color of Pomegranates
Sergei Parajanov
USSR, 1969
Digital Restoration
Sunday, November 10 12:00 PM
This magical work, rich in period music, reimagines Armenian history and culture through the life and writings of its greatest poet. “Watching [it] is like opening a door and walking into another dimension, where time has stopped and beauty has been unleashed” (Martin Scorsese). Shown with two rarely screened short films, Kyiv Frescoes and Hakob Hovnatanyan.
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Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors
Sergei Parajanov
USSR, 1965
Digital Restoration
Friday, November 15 7:00 PM
Pagan rituals, demonology, folklore, and legend come to life in Sergei Parajanov’s hypnotic update of a Romeo and Juliet–like tale. “Astonishing . . . one of the supreme works of Soviet cinema” (Jonathan Rosenbaum).
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The Legend of Suram Fortress
Sergei Parajanov, Dodo Abashidze
USSR, 1985
Sunday, November 17 2:00 PM
Introduced by Harsha Ram
Mixing regional history, political protest, and romantic drama, The Legend of Suram Fortress marked Sergei Parajanov’s return to cinema after enduring fifteen years of Soviet censorship.
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Sergei Parajanov: Centennial Celebration

November 1–22, 2024

The exceptional Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov (1924–1990) was born and lived a good portion of his life in Tbilisi, Georgia. He studied filmmaking in Moscow at VGIK, where one of his teachers and mentors was Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The initial part of his career was spent in Ukraine, where he made his first films, including the pivotal Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors and Kyiv Frescoes. From there he made a series of remarkable films: The Color of Pomegranates, The Legend of Suram Fortress, and Ashik Kerib. Shot on location in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, respectively, these films cemented his reputation as an artist who worked across transnational boundaries in his exploration of myth and cultural traditions. Parajanov’s films have been extremely influential, though he struggled against the Soviet authorities, who banned and censored the films. He was arrested multiple times...

This centennial tribute offers viewers a chance to see Parajanov’s best-known features, plus several of his rarely shown short films. His powerful use of symbolism and metaphor creates extraordinary, indelible images, and his use of eclectic objects, color, and costumes is unique in both style and approach. Patrick Cazals’s documentaries Sergei Parajanov: The Rebel and The Muse and the Magician offer important insights into the artist’s biography and aesthetic approach. BAMPFA will hold a symposium, which is free and open to the public, on Saturday, November 2, bringing scholars and experts together to speak about Parajanov and his legacy.

—Susan Oxtoby, Director of Film and Senior Film Curator

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We thank the National Cinema Center of Armenia; Dovzhenko Film Studios; British Film Institute; World Cinema Foundation; Janus Films; and Armenian Studies Program, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, and the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, UC Berkeley.