Sergei Parajanov

[Stefan Andersson]

On Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and the source novel:
https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2019/07/0 ... -the-film/

[ando]

On Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and the source novel:
https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2019/07/0 ... -the-film/

One I haven't seen in a while. Thanks.

[quarksauce]

@jsteffe
Does anyone know whether the viewability status of The Last Spring has changed since 2007? I am a tremendous admirer of Parajanov's and would like very much to view this film.

I am also interested to delve into Vartanov and his work, so any info on how to watch any of his films would be great.

New to the forum. Great community you have here, with many interesting threads and posters.

[quarksauce]

bother21, welcome to the club! I'm sorry that I wasn't able to travel to England to see the symposium and retrospective.

I know for a fact that Mikhail Vartanov's "The Last Spring" is not currently available on DVD, though I don't anything about future plans. The late director's son Martin has arranged a screening of the film at UCLA on Sunday, April 18 for those in the L.A. area.

You can view brief excerpts from the rushes in one of the documentaries in the 2-DVD set Paradzhanov's Code by Levon Grigorian. In my view the documentaries are all flawed to varying degrees, but the footage really is something else, and the outtakes look better here than anywhere else.

This is the specific post I was responding to in my question above.

[Minkin]

Here's a question from another forum I use. Hopefully it can be resolved here! Calling out to jsteffe for help:

(paraphrased from the other forum)

Khostovanank (The Confession, 1990) has always been a weird case. It's an unfinished project. It's supposed to be included in a documentary about Parajanov, but I've never been able to locate that doc. We found this tweet claiming this clip on Youtube is supposed to be all that has been shot of the film, rather than just being an excerpt.

If we could get some sort of confirmation that that Youtube clip is indeed the full (unfinished) film, that would be just ducky!

[JonoQ]

No, there's definitely more footage than just that clip. I believe the full thing is supposed to be 8 or 9 minutes long - Jonathan Rosenbaum describes it as 8 minutes in this piece: https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1996/ ... eam-storm/.

There's a documentary about Parajanov called I Died In Childhood (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424576/) which includes some of the extra footage - it's available on a certain torrent site. In the film, you see Parajanov screening dailies from "The Confession," including that same Youtube clip, plus some other material, including that image of the woman, boy, and sheep that's used as the header image for the film on Letterboxd. There's still only about 5-6 minutes of footage in that film, so I think there's still more out there.

In any case, I've heard that Vartanov's son is currently in the process of restoring "Parajanov: The Last Spring." We know he has a relationship with Criterion due to the extras on The Color of Pomegranates, so I wouldn't be surprised if The Last Spring shows up on a Criterion DVD at some point, maybe as an extra to another Parajanov film.

[Minkin]

No, there's definitely more footage than just that clip. I believe the full thing is supposed to be 8 or 9 minutes long - Jonathan Rosenbaum describes it as 8 minutes in this piece: https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1996/ ... eam-storm/.

There's a documentary about Parajanov called I Died In Childhood (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424576/) which includes some of the extra footage - it's available on a certain torrent site. In the film, you see Parajanov screening dailies from "The Confession," including that same Youtube clip, plus some other material, including that image of the woman, boy, and sheep that's used as the header image for the film on Letterboxd. There's still only about 5-6 minutes of footage in that film, so I think there's still more out there.

In any case, I've heard that Vartanov's son is currently in the process of restoring "Parajanov: The Last Spring." We know he has a relationship with Criterion due to the extras on The Color of Pomegranates, so I wouldn't be surprised if The Last Spring shows up on a Criterion DVD at some point, maybe as an extra to another Parajanov film.

Thank you for the info! This was super helpful.

I do wonder though, since 8mins is pretty close to 6mins - if there isn't any additional footage. But it would likely be prudent to wait until Last Spring becomes available.

[JonoQ]

Actually, I was wrong about one thing - I Died In Childhood does have some Confession footage, but I was thinking of Don Askarian's Paradjanov (or Paradzhanov), which has the footage of Sergei watching Confession dailies. I've been meaning to go through all these films to count up exactly how much Confession footage is out there.

[jsteffe]

The Kino Klassika Foundation in London has started an Indiegogo campaign to restore Parajanov's short film "Arabesques on the Theme of Pirosmani" in 4K from the original negative. This is truly exciting news, as it's an underrated work in Parajanov's canon. Until very recently, the negative was missing. The Polish company Fixafilm has done excellent work so far on two other shorts ("Kyiv Frescoes," in a brand new restoration, and "Hakob Hovnatanyan"). Daniel Bird is overseeing the restoration effort.

I will be donating signed copies of my book to support the campaign, and will contribute some funds outright as well.

[jsteffe]

Three of Parajanov's restored short films - HAKOB HOVNATANYAN, KYIV FRESCOES (edited from the screen tests) and ARABESQUES ON THE THEME OF PIROSMANI - are available through Film at the Lincoln Center's Virtual Cinema. You can access them online through (this) Thursday, July 9.

[L.A.]

Sergei Parajanov's son director Suren Parajanov has died in Kyiv. He was 63.

[Stefan Andersson]

Paradjanov´s prison diaries have been published in Russian; relevant quote:

"Sergej Paradz_anov, Izoljacija, Erevan, Muzej Sergeja Paradzhanova, 2018, 419 p.
Parution en russe (langue originale) d’un ensemble de 240 lettres écrites par le réalisateur Sergueï Paradjanov depuis ses lieux de détention entre 1974 et 1977, auquel l’éditeur, Zaven Sargsian, directeur du musée Paradjanov d’Erevan, a adjoint un certain nombre de documents en rapport direct avec les poursuites menées contre lui : archives judiciaires, décisions de l’Union des cinéastes d’Ukraine, lettres de dénonciation adressés au KGB, etc. L’ouvrage est richement illustré de portraits de Paradjanov, des différents protagonistes, de photographies des lieux de détention (camps de Strijavka et de Perevalsk) faites par Zaven Sargsian, et surtout de dessins et collages réalisés à cette période et qui accompagnaient cette correspondance. Un ensemble indispensable pour qui s’intéresse à la biographie et à l’œuvre de Paradjanov."

Source:
https://journals.openedition.org/1895/6952

[knives]

Ashik Kerib is streaming next week on Lecinemaclub.

[Karamazov]

Inspired by the current conflict, I've produced a tribute to Ukrainian Cinema, featuring footage from movies by Dovzhenko, Ilyenko, Denysenko, Osyka, Ivchenko, and naturally Parajanov's "Shadows of Forgoten Ancestors". In other words, works that are representative of the country's traditions and customs, people and identity. Perhaps some here will appreciate it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYTYIwxF9nY

[swo17]

Lovely, thanks for sharing!

[andyli]

4K restoration of Kyiv Frescoes exclusively available on Kino Now for a limited time.

[knives]

Amazing and thank you. (Also congrats JSteffen)

[hearthesilence]

I saw this at MoMA in January where they only showed the footage along with two other Parajanov shorts and a documentary by Otar Iosseliani, but this presentation is much more helpful for viewers unfamiliar with this work. (Kudos to James Steffen!) It's just really unfortunate that it was put together under the shittiest of circumstances.

[jsteffe]

Thank you for posting the link for Kyiv Frescoes! I am incredibly appreciative of Kino Lorber's proposal to do this as a fundraiser for the Dovzhenko National Centre.

Please consider donating to the GoFundMe campaign. Here is the direct link to the campaign as well.

[jsteffe]

Inspired by the current conflict, I've produced a tribute to Ukrainian Cinema, featuring footage from movies by Dovzhenko, Ilyenko, Denysenko, Osyka, Ivchenko, and naturally Parajanov's "Shadows of Forgoten Ancestors". In other words, works that are representative of the country's traditions and customs, people and identity. Perhaps some here will appreciate it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYTYIwxF9nY

That turned out very nicely!

[Stefan Andersson]

Post moved to Color of Pomegranates thread.

[Stefan Andersson]

Daniel Bird on restoring Hakob Hovnatanyan:
https://kinoashkharh.am/en/2021/06/dani ... eel-bored/

[Stefan Andersson]

Pre-1965 Paradjanov films restored:
http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_s ... ries/58444

Parajanov: The Last Spring restored:
https://www.library.ucla.edu/visit/even ... -12-07-24/