Sergei Parajanov

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Sergey Paradzhanov
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"Parajanov" redirects here. For other uses, see Parajanov (disambiguation).

Sergei Parajanov
Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
Resting placeKomitas Pantheon, Yerevan
NationalityArmenian
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
Years active1951–1990
Spouses
  • Nigyar Kerimova
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1950⁠–⁠1951)​
  • Svetlana Tscherbatiuk
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1956⁠–⁠1962)​
Children1
Websitehttps://www.parajanov.com

Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov

cinema history.[2]

Parajanov invented his own cinematic style,

Sight & Sound.[5][6]

Although he started professional film-making in 1954, Parajanov later disowned all the films he made before 1965 as "garbage". After directing

Goskino), almost without discussion, until he was finally arrested in late 1973 on false charges of rape, homosexuality and bribery. He was imprisoned until 1977, despite pleas for pardon from various artists. Even after his release (he was arrested for the third and last time in 1982), he was a persona non grata in Soviet cinema. It was not until the mid-1980s, when the political climate started to relax, that he could resume directing. Still, it required the help of influential Georgian actor Dodo Abashidze and other friends to have his last feature films greenlighted. His health seriously weakened after four years in labor camps and nine months in prison in Tbilisi. Parajanov died of lung cancer in 1990, at a time when, after almost 20 years of suppression, his films were being featured at foreign film festivals. In a 1988 interview he stated that, "Everyone knows that I have three Motherlands. I was born in Georgia, worked in Ukraine and I'm going to die in Armenia."[7] Parajanov is buried at Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan.[8]

Parajanov's films won prizes at

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 Parajanov specialist Elisabetta Fabrizi who commissioned a Parajanov-inspired new commission in the BFI Gallery by contemporary artist Matt Collishaw ('Retrospectre'). A symposium was dedicated to Parajanov's work bringing together experts to discuss and celebrate the director's contribution to cinema and art.[9]

Early life and films

Memorial plaque on the Parajanov family house in Tbilisi (7 Kote Meskhi St.)

Parajanov was born Sarkis Hovsepi Parajaniants (

VGIK, one of the oldest and highly respected film schools in Europe, and studied under the tutelage of directors Igor Savchenko and Oleksandr Dovzhenko
.

Parajanov was

MGB officer named Nikolai Mikava in Tbilisi. These charges were later proven false. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released under an amnesty after three months.[13]
In video interviews, friends and relatives contest the truthfulness of anything he was charged with. They speculate the punishment may have been a form of political retaliation for his rebellious views.

In 1950 Parajanov married his first wife, Nigyar Kerimova, in

Donets Basin). He became fluent in Ukrainian and married his second wife, Svitlana Ivanivna Shcherbatiuk (1938–2020[14]), also known as Svetlana Sherbatiuk or Svetlana Parajanova, in 1956. Shcherbatiuk gave birth to a son, Suren, in 1958.[15] The couple eventually divorced and she and Suren relocated to Kyiv, Ukraine.[14]

Break from Socialist Realism

Parajanov's muse, Georgian actress Sofiko Chiaureli, in The Color of Pomegranates

Andrey 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, who Parajanov would later describe as "like a God" to him and a director of "majestic style".[16] 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, unlike the subsequent The Color of Pomegranates, was relatively well received by the Soviet authorities. The Script Editorial Board at Goskino of Ukraine praised the film for "conveying the poetic quality and philosophical depth of M. Kotsiubynsky’s tale through the language of cinema," and called it "a brilliant creative success of the Dovzhenko studio." Moscow also agreed to Goskino of Ukraine's request to release the film with its original Ukrainian soundtrack intact, rather than redub the dialogue into Russian for Soviet-wide release, in order to preserve its Ukrainian flavor.[17]
(Russian dubbing was standard practice at that time for non-Russian Soviet films when they were distributed outside the republic of origin.)

Parajanov departed Kyiv shortly afterwards for his ancestors' homeland, Armenia. In 1969, he embarked on Sayat Nova, a film that many consider to be his crowning achievement, though it was shot under relatively poor conditions and had a very small budget.[18] Soviet censors intervened and banned Sayat Nova for its allegedly inflammatory content. Parajanov re-edited his footage and renamed the film The Color of Pomegranates. Actor Alexei Korotyukov remarked: "Parajanov made films not about how things are, but how they would have been had he been God."[19] Mikhail Vartanov wrote in 1969 that "Besides the film language suggested by Griffith and Eisenstein, the world cinema has not discovered anything revolutionarily new until The Color of Pomegranates ...".[20]

Imprisonment and later work

Parajanov's monument in Tbilisi
Parajanov's statue in front of his museum in Yerevan

By December 1973, the Soviet authorities had grown increasingly suspicious of Parajanov's perceived subversive proclivities, particularly his bisexuality, and sentenced him to five years in a hard labor camp for "a rape of a Communist Party member, and the propagation of pornography."

Yves Saint Laurent, Marcello Mastroianni, Françoise Sagan, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Andrei Tarkovsky and Mikhail Vartanov
.

Parajanov served four years out of his five-year sentence, and later credited his early release to the efforts of the

Surrealist poet and novelist Louis Aragon, the Russian poet Elsa Triolet (Aragon's wife), and the American writer John Updike.[18] His early release was authorized by Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, presumably as a consequence of Brezhnev's chance 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 effected by December 1977.[21]

While he was incarcerated, Parajanov produced a large number of miniature doll-like sculptures (some of which were lost) and some 800 drawings and collages, many of which were later displayed in Yerevan, where the Serhii Parajanov Museum is now permanently located.[22] (The museum, opened in 1991, a year after Parajanov's death, hosts more than 200 works as well as furnishings from his home in Tbilisi.) 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 admitted that "the director is very talented."[18]

After his return from prison to Tbilisi, the close watch of Soviet censors prevented Parajanov from continuing his cinematic pursuits and steered him towards the 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 imprisoned, 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, and was effected with some degree of trickery. Despite another stiff sentence, he was freed in less than a year, with his health seriously weakened.[21]

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 created the multi-award-winning film The Legend of Suram Fortress, based on a novella by Daniel Chonkadze, his first return to cinema since Sayat Nova fifteen years earlier. In 1988, Parajanov made another multi-award-winning film, 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 then attempted to complete his final project. He died of

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.[20] 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…”.[20]

Influences and legacy

Parajanov on a 1999 stamp of Armenia
Parajanov's tombstone in Yerevan

Despite having studied film at the

VGIK, Parajanov discovered his artistic path only after seeing Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's dreamlike first film Ivan's Childhood
.

Parajanov was highly appreciated by Tarkovsky himself in the biographical film "Voyage in Time" ("Always with huge gratitude and pleasure I remember the films of Sergei Parajanov which I love very much. His way of thinking, his paradoxical, poetical... ability to love the beauty and the ability to be absolutely free within his own vision"). 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 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.[23] 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.[24]

The Parajanov-Vartanov Institute was established in Hollywood in 2010 to study, preserve and promote the artistic legacies of Sergei Parajanov and Mikhail Vartanov.[25]

Filmography

Year English title Original title Romanization Notes
1951 Moldavian Tale In Russian: Молдавская сказка
In Ukrainian: Moлдавська байка 		Moldavskaya skazka
Moldavska baika 		Graduate short film; lost
1954 Andriesh In Russian: Андриеш Andriesh Co-directed with Yakov Bazelyan; feature-length remake of Moldavian Tale
1958 Dumka In Ukrainian: Думка Dumka Documentary
1958 The First Lad (aka The Top Guy) In Russian: Первый парень
In Ukrainian: Перший пapyбок 		Pervyj paren
Pershyi parubok
1959 Natalya Ushvij In Russian: Наталия Ужвий Natalia Uzhvij Documentary
1960 Golden Hands In Russian: Золотые руки Zolotye ruki Documentary
1961 Ukrainian Rhapsody In Russian: Украинская рапсодия
In Ukrainian: Укpaїнськa рaпсодія 		Ukrainskaya rapsodiya
Ukrainska rapsodiya
1962 Flower on the Stone In Russian: Цветок на камне
In Ukrainian: Квітка на камені 		Tsvetok na kamne
Kvitka na kameni
1965 Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors In Ukrainian: Тіні забутих предків Tini zabutykh predkiv
1965 Kyiv Frescoes [uk] In Ukrainian: Київські фрески
In Russian: Киевские фрески 		Kyivski fresky
Kievskie freski 		Banned during pre-production; 15 minutes of auditions survive
1967 Hakob Hovnatanian In Armenian: Հակոբ Հովնաթանյան Hakob Hovnatanyan Short film portrait of the 19th century Armenian artist
1968 Children to Komitas In Armenian: Երեխաներ Կոմիտասին Yerekhaner Komitasin Documentary for UNICEF; lost[26]
1969 The Color of Pomegranates In Armenian: Նռան գույնը Nran guyne
1985 The Legend of Suram Fortress In Georgian: ამბავი სურამის ციხისა Ambavi Suramis tsikhisa
1985 Arabesques on the Pirosmani Theme In Georgian: არაბესკები ფიროსმანის თემაზე
In Russian: Арабески на тему Пиросмани 		Arabeskebi Pirosmanis temaze
Arabeski na temu Pirosmani 		Short film portrait of the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani
1988 Ashik Kerib In Georgian: აშიკი ქერიბი
In Azerbaijani: Aşıq Qərib 		Ashiki Keribi
1989–1990 The Confession In Armenian: Խոստովանանք Khostovanank Unfinished; original negative survives in Mikhail Vartanov's Parajanov: The Last Spring[27][28]

Screenplays

Produced and partially produced screenplays

  • Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Тіні забутих предків, 1965, co-written with Ivan Chendei, based on the novelette by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky)
  • Kyiv Frescoes (Київські фрески, 1965)
  • Sayat Nova (Саят-Нова, 1969, production screenplay of The Color of Pomegranates)
  • The Confession (сповідь, 1969–1989)
  • Studies About Vrubel (Этюды о Врубеле, 1989, depiction of Mikhail Vrubel's Kyiv period, co-written and directed by Leonid Osyka)
  • Swan Lake: The Zone (Лебедине озеро. Зона, 1989, filmed in 1990, directed by
    Yuriy Illienko
    , cinematographer of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors)

Unproduced screenplays and projects

  • The Dormant Palace (Дремлющий дворец, 1969, based on Pushkin's poem The Fountain of Bakhchisaray)
  • Intermezzo (1972, based on Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky's short story)
  • Icarus (Икар, 1972)
  • The Golden Edge (Золотой обрез, 1972)
  • Ara the Beautiful (Ара Прекрасный, 1972, based on the poem by 20th century Armenian poet Nairi Zaryan about
    Ara the Beautiful
    )
  • Demon (Демон, 1972, based on Lermontov's eponymous poem)
  • The Miracle of Odense (Чудо в Оденсе, 1973, loosely based on the life and works of Hans Christian Andersen)
  • David of Sasun (Давид Сасунский, mid-1980s, based on Armenian epic poem
    David of Sasun
    )
  • The Martyrdom of Shushanik (Мученичество Шушаник, 1987, based on Georgian chronicle by Iakob Tsurtaveli)
  • The Treasures of Mount Ararat (Сокровища у горы Арарат)

Among his projects, there also were plans for adapting

Goethe's Faust, the Old East Slavic poem The Tale of Igor's Campaign
, but film scripts for these were never completed.

References in popular culture

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 Parajanov grew up on, Kote Meskhi street, was renamed Parajanov Street in 2021[35]
  • There is a house museum dedicated to Parajanov in Yerevan, Armenia

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    • Armenian: Սերգեյ Հովսեփի Փարաջանով
    • Russian: Сергей Иосифович Параджанов
    • Georgian: სერგო ფარაჯანოვი
    • Ukrainian: Сергій Йосипович Параджанов
  2. ^ His last name is sometimes transliterated as Paradzhanov or Paradjanov.

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-8108-6072-8
    .
  2. ^ "Where to begin with Sergei Parajanov". BFI. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  3. ^ "Parajanov-Vartanov Institute". Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  4. ^ "20 Directors of the Future". Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. May 22, 2020. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  5. ^ "Critics' top 100 | BFI". www2.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  6. ^ "Parajanov and the Greatest Films of All Time". Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. January 2, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  7. ^ "Interview". Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. January 2, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  8. ^ "The memorial of Parajanyan Parajanov Sargis Sergey (Սարգիս Սերգեյ Փարաջանյան Փարաջանով Հովսեփի) buried at Yerevan's Komitas Pantheon cemetery". hush.am. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  9. ^ Fabrizi, Elisabetta, 'The BFI Gallery Book', BFI, London, 2011.
  10. ^ Sergei Paradzhanov and Zaven Sarkisian, Kaleidoskop Paradzhanov: Risunok, kollazh, assambliazh (Yerevan: Muzei Sergeiia Paradzhanova, 2008), p.8
  11. ^ Gray, Carmen (December 2, 2019). "Where to begin with Sergei Parajanov". British Film Institute. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  12. ^ Golubock, D. Garrison (February 28, 2014). "Parajanov's Influence Still Spreading on 90th Anniversary". The Moscow Times. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  13. ^ "Vsya pravda o sudimostyakh Sergeya Paradzhanova" Вся правда о судимостях Сергея Параджанова [The whole truth about Sergei Parajanov's criminal records]. Segodnya (in Russian). Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  14. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) The wife of the legendary director Sergei Parajanov has died Archived 2022-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, Glavcom (6 June 2020)
  15. ^ "surenparadjanov". Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. January 2, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  16. ^ Paradjanov: A Requiem (Documentary). KINO Productions. 1994.
  17. ^ RGALI (Russian State Archive of Art and Literature), Goskino production and censorship files: f. 2944, op. 4, d. 280.
  18. ^ a b c Sergei Parajanov – Interview with Ron Holloway, 1988 Archived 2007-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Edwards, Maxim (June 20, 2014). "Armenian, Ukrainian, Soviet". Souciant. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  20. ^ a b c "main". Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. February 9, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  21. ^ a b c "Осужден за изнасилование члена КПСС (in Russian), Moskovskiy Komsomolets, 2004". Archived from the original on August 10, 2007.
  22. ^ "Frieze Magazine, Paradjanov the Magnificent". Archived from the original on April 16, 2008.
  23. ^ "Parajanov's Influence Still Spreading on 90th Anniversary | News | the Moscow Times". Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  24. ^ "Influences". Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. January 2, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  25. ^ "Parajanov-Vartanov Institute". Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014.
  26. ^ "Maestro Sergei Parajanov". February 9, 2017.
  27. ^ "Parajanov: The Last Spring". December 28, 2016.
  28. ISBN 9781844035731
  29. ^ "fugue state press - experimental fiction - Stet, by James Chapman". www.fuguestatepress.com. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  30. ^ Kaufman, Gil (September 18, 2020). ""Watch Lady Gaga Flown Like a Kite By Shirtless Muscle Men In '911' Video"". Billboard. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  31. ^ a b Mier, Tomás (September 18, 2020). "Lady Gaga Drops 'Very Personal' '911' Video About Her Mental Health: 'It's the Poetry of Pain'". People. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  32. ISBN 9780299296537
    .
  33. ^ Minsker, Evan (June 24, 2015). "Nicolas Jaar Releases Free Album Pomegranates". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  34. ^ Golubock, D. Garrison (February 27, 2014). "Parajanov's Influence Still Spreading on 90th Anniversary". The Moscow Times. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  35. ^ "Tbilisi,Georgia. Kote Meskhi street located in Mtatsminda district will be named after acclaimed film director Serge Parajanov". Agenda.ge. September 10, 2021.

Bibliography

Selected bibliography of books and scholarly articles about Sergei Parajanov.

English language sources

Foreign language sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sergei Parajanov.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Sergei Parajanov (Armenian Wikiquote).
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