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.
Read full descriptionFive experts join BAMPFA’s Sergei Parajanov: Centennial Celebration to discuss the filmmaker’s multifaceted legacy.
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
Digital Restoration
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.
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
Five experts join BAMPFA’s Sergei Parajanov: Centennial Celebration to discuss the filmmaker’s multifaceted legacy.
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.
Digital Restoration
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.
Digital Restoration
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).
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.
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).