Sergei Parajanov

Sergei Parajanov, 1978. Photo by the Georgian photographer Yuri Mechitow

Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov (native Sarkis Howsepi Paradschanian ; Armenian Սարգիս Հովսեփի Փարաջանյան ; Georgian სერგეი (სერგო) ფარაჯანოვი ; Russian Сергей Иосифович Параджанов * 9. January 1924 in Tbilisi , Georgian SSR , Transcaucasian SFSR , Soviet Union , now Tbilisi, Georgia ; † 21st July 1990 in Yerevan , Soviet Union, today Armenia ) was a Soviet film director of Armenian origin. The "Kinorebell" was one of the most original and celebrated directors of the 20th century. His work reflects the ethnic diversity of the Caucasus .

Life

Sergei Parajanov on an Armenian postage stamp

He was born as the son of the businessman Josif Parajanian and his wife Siranusch Bedschanian in Tbilisi. In 1942 he graduated from high school and began studying at the Railway College . He left university to study music and dance. In 1945 he enrolled at the State Film Institute (WGIK) in Moscow , where the directors Igor Savchenko and Oleksandr Dowschenko were his teachers.

He moved to Kiev , where in 1952 his first short film , Moldovskaya skaska , and in 1955 his first feature film Andriesch were made. The film Tini sabutych predkiw (“Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”, 1964) deviated significantly from the state-mandated socialist realism . He described a tragic love story among mountain farmers, which is determined by folklore and religion. Because of its visual intensity, it attracted international attention. In 1965 the film was awarded the Grand Prize of the Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata , the Rome Film Festival and the Prize of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts .

With the film, Parajanov fell into disrepute among the censors . His film project Kievan Frescoes was canceled and the film material was banished to the archive. In 1966 he moved to Yerevan, where he produced a documentary. In 1969 he completed a surreal feature film about the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova . The work was not allowed to bear the name chosen by the director, it had to be changed to Zwet granata (“The color of the pomegranate”). The director Sergei Jutkewitsch was commissioned to produce an ideologically smooth Russian language version. Even so, the film never came out and was only premiered in 1984. Parajanov then submitted four more film scripts to the authorities. All were rejected by the censorship.

He was arrested in Kiev on December 17, 1973 and sentenced to five years of strict camp imprisonment in April 1974 for homosexuality , pornography and alleged homosexual rape . The conviction led to international protests by artists, writers and directors such as Federico Fellini , Roberto Rossellini , Michelangelo Antonioni , Sergio Leone and Mikhail Wartanov . The French poet Louis Aragon presented himself personally to the Soviet head of state and party, Leonid Brezhnev . Parajanov created collages and drawings in the camp. He was released from prison after four years. The work ban remained in force until 1984.

Pardashanov moved to Tbilisi. In 1982 he was arrested again there for alleged bribery of officials and spent almost a year in a Georgian prison. In 1984 the work ban was lifted at the instigation of the Georgian nomenklatura and Parajanov was allowed to make films again. In the same year, Ambawi Suramis zichitsa was made , followed in 1985 by a documentary about the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani . A first exhibition of his visual works of art was opened in Tbilisi.

His last film, Aschugi Qaribi , ( Aşık Kerib , "Kerib, the minstrel") was made in Azerbaijan in 1988 based on a novel by Mikhail Lermontov . He was awarded the European Film Prize for the best equipment. An autobiographical film under the title The Confession could no longer be completed. The footage later became part of a documentary about the film director's life, Parajanov: The Last Spring , which won the Russian Film Academy Award. Parajanov died of cancer .

In 1991, the Sergei Parajanov Museum dedicated to him was opened in Yerevan , and in 2016 it was included in the list of treasures of European film culture by the European Film Academy . Since 2005, a lifetime achievement award named after him has been given to internationally renowned directors at the “Golden Apricot” film festival in Yerevan.

The Parajanov-Vartanov Institute was founded in Hollywood in 2010.

In 2013, Georgia-born singer Katie Melua used excerpts from the film "The Color of the Pomegranate" for the music video for her piece "Love Is A Silent Thief". In the same year, the film biography The Parajanov Scandal , directed by Serge Avetikjan and Olena Fetisova .

Private

Parajanov was homosexual. He was first charged with homosexuality in Tbilisi in 1947 and sentenced to several months in prison. In 1950 he married the young Tatar Nigjar Kerimowa, who was murdered a little later by family members because of her marriage to a Christian. In 1956 he married the Ukrainian Svetlana Shcherbatjuk, with whom he had a son, Suren. In 1962 he got divorced. His nephew Georgi Parajanov is also a director.

Quotes

• "In the temple of film there are images, light and reality. Sergei Parajanov was the master of this temple." ( Jean-Luc Godard ).
• "In my opinion, Parajanov's 'The Color of the Pomegranate' is one of the best contemporary films that impresses with its perfection and beauty." ( Michelangelo Antonioni )
• "I always remember Sergei Parajanov's films, which I love very much, with great gratitude and pleasure. His way of thinking, his paradoxical poetic ... ability to love beauty and the ability to be absolutely free in his vision." ( Andrei Tarkowski )

Filmography

• 1951: Moldovskaya skazka
• 1954: Andriesh
• 1957: Zolotye ruki
• 1957: Natalya Ushvij
• 1957: Dumka
• 1959: Pervyj paren
• 1961: Ukrainskaya rapsodiya
• 1962: The stone flower ( Tsvetok na kamne )
• 1964: Fire Horses ( Tini zabutykh predkiv )
• 1967: Hakob Hovnatanyan
• 1969: The color of the pomegranate ( Sayat Nova )
• 1985: The Legend of the Suram Fortress ( Ambawi Suramis tsichisa )
• 1985: Arabeskebi Pirosmanis temaze
• 1988: Kerib, the minstrel ( Ashugi Quaribi or Ashik-Kerib )
• 1990: Confession

Web links

Commons : Sergei Parajanov  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Sergei Parajanov in theInternet Movie Database(English)
• Parajanov-Vartanov Institute - Parajanov.com (English)
• Sergei Parajanov Museum (English)
• The color of the pomegranate
• The Color of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova) English subtitles
• Katie Melua : Love Is A Silent Thief with excerpts from "The Color of the Pomegranate"
• The Legend of Suram Fortress , ამბავი სურამის ციხისა, 1984
• The seer of legends - memories of Sergei Paradschanow , feature by Daniel Guthmann on the 30th anniversary of his death, 55 min., Deutschlandfunk, July 24th, 2020, 8:05 pm

Individual evidence

1. ^ Parajanov-Vartanov Institute
2. ↑ Parajanov-Vartanov Institute  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Hollywood Reporter
4. ↑ https://programm.ard.de/TV/arte/der-paradschanow-skandal/eid_28724550223572
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Parajanov.com