{"id":31226,"date":"2024-01-29T10:16:24","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T08:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?p=31226"},"modified":"2024-01-29T10:16:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T08:16:24","slug":"a-century-of-sergei-parajanov-conjurer-of-cinematic-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/a-century-of-sergei-parajanov-conjurer-of-cinematic-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"A Century of Sergei Parajanov: Conjurer of Cinematic Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sergei Parajanov, revered as one of the most innovative directors in cinema history, was significant for his willingness and capacity to blend European and Middle Eastern traditions, tales and vernacular art.<\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

William Gourlay<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

January 2024 marks the centenary of the birth of Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov, revered as one of the most innovative directors in cinema history. Working for the USSR State Committee for Cinematography, Parajanov created a body of work that has been praised by cinema figures from Francis Ford Coppola to Martin Scorsese and Jean-Luc Godard. His influence can be seen across the visual arts in the movies of <\/span>Mohsen Makhmalbaf<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Lady Gaga<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>REM<\/span><\/a> music videos.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a series of movies from 1965\u2019s <\/span>Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors<\/span><\/i><\/a> to 1988\u2019s <\/span>Ashik Kerib<\/span><\/i><\/a>, Parajanov developed his own distinctive cinematic idiom. He experimented with color, sound and filmmaking technique, using jump-cut editing, overdubs, face-to-camera shots and \u201ctableaux\u201d \u2014 still images of objects laden with symbolism \u2014 to create a quasi-archaic style, building the momentum of his films through painterly metaphor rather than linear narrative. Under Parajanov\u2019s direction characters acted with pantomime affectations in intricately wrought sets awash with allegorical motifs and carnivalesque color.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parajanov\u2019s major works were interpretations of myths and legends from the fringes of Europe, the Caucasus and Carpathian Mountains. The British Film Institute <\/span>described his films<\/span><\/a> as \u201ctransforming\u2026 folklore into visual poetry.\u201d James Steffen, in his <\/span>masterly examination of Parajanov and his work<\/span><\/a>, remarked that his main accomplishment was to introduce global cinema audiences during the Cold War to non-Russian cultures including Ukrainian, Armenian and Azerbaijani.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Yuri
Yuri Mgoyan in Ashik Kerib<\/em>, 1988 (courtesy iMDB).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Parajanov was also significant for his willingness and capacity to blend European and Middle Eastern traditions, tales and vernacular art. A cultural magpie, he drew inspiration from across religious, ethnic and linguistic boundaries \u2014 from Orthodox manuscripts to Persian miniatures, from Georgian legends to Turkish fairy tales. Parajanov once <\/span>praised the Kurdish director<\/span><\/a> Yilmaz G\u00fcney for creating works that \u201cstraddle[s]\u2026 the Orient and the Western world.\u201d Parajanov himself exemplified this, his cinematic oeuvre documenting the rich artistic overlap between the \u201cWest\u201d and the \u201cOrient\u201d and elements of cultural heritage that belonged to both worlds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps such an approach to the creative process should not be unexpected given that Parajanov was born an Armenian in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the heart of the Caucasus mountains. In the 1840s, the German traveller Baron Augustus Von Haxthausen wrote, \u201cIn Ti\ufb02is [Tbilisi], Europe and Asia may be said to meet.\u201d Long the seat of Georgian monarchs, <\/span>Tbilisi<\/span><\/a> has also been ruled by Arab emirs, Turks, Persians and Soviet commissars. More broadly, the Caucasus region has for millennia been a place of cultural interactions between peoples. Traversing the Caucasus, Von Haxthausen noted \u201c[Muslim] Tatars, Circassians, and Persians, and\u2026Christian Georgians and Armenians, inhabit the same villages\u2026and sometimes even eat together on the same carpet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As James Steffen records, Parajanov grew up in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Old Tbilisi, familiar with the folk art of Niko <\/span>Pirosmani<\/span><\/a> and the traditions of <\/span>ashiks<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>ashugh<\/span><\/i><\/a> in Armenian), the multilingual poet-minstrels of the Caucasus. Parajanov\u2019s initial inclinations were musical. Enrolling at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, he proved a talented singer and violinist, but in 1945 he won a place at the State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, and followed a new artistic path. In 1951 he produced his graduation movie, <\/span>A Moldovan Fairytale<\/span><\/i>, based on a short story. In a later essay for the Russian film studies magazine <\/span>Iskusstvo Kino<\/span><\/i>, he remarked, \u201cThe poetics of this work came to me almost at once\u2026\u00a0 I was attempting to build an expressive system originating directly from folk poetry and mythology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Several feature films including a reworking of <\/span>A<\/span><\/i> Moldovan Fairytale<\/span><\/i> followed, during which Parajanov refined his craft in Ukraine, without achieving a major box office hit or winning critical acclaim. Seeing Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky\u2019s 1962 dream-like, anti-war feature <\/span>Ivan\u2019s Childhood<\/span><\/i><\/a>, however, was a watershed experience for Parajanov. He allegedly disowned all of his earlier output and embarked on a new creative trajectory.<\/span><\/p>\n

His next feature was his breakout moment. <\/span>Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors<\/span><\/i><\/a>, a tale set among the Hutsul people of the Carpathians, based on a short-story by Ukrainian writer, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, attracted worldwide attention, winning awards at festivals across Europe and North America, and enjoying an extended run in French cinemas. It was while creating <\/span>Shadows<\/span><\/i> that Parajanov forged the signature style that was to define his subsequent works. This approach, described by Steffen as \u201cpoetic cinema,\u201d involved innovative use of sound, music and voiceovers, and the recurring positioning of objects \u2014 handcrafts, textiles, ornaments, artisanal tools \u2014 as \u201csymbolic motifs to provide an overarching thematic structure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Local and international acclaim, however, did not ensure a comfortable future or ongoing success for Parajanov. Political circumstances got in the way. During his time in Ukraine, he had associated with dissidents, which, in combination with his departure from the prescribed Socialist Realism creative doctrine, his outspokenness and propensity for challenging prevailing hierarchies, saw him fall foul of Soviet authorities. His ongoing projects in Ukraine, including the never-finished <\/span>Kyiv Frescoes<\/span><\/i><\/a>, were blacklisted and he left Kyiv for Yerevan.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sofiko
Sofiko Chiaureli in The Color of Pomegranates<\/em>, 1969 (courtesy iMDB).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A<\/span>fter moving to the Armenian capital, Parajanov created <\/span>The Color of Pomegranates<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Many regard this as his masterpiece. Theoretically, the film offers an account of the life of the fabled 18<\/span>th <\/span>century Armenian bard, <\/span>Sayat Nova<\/span><\/a>, but a direct narrative is difficult to discern as the viewer is gifted with a flood of symbolic images and scenarios. Upon seeing the film Martin Scorsese remarked, \u201cI didn\u2019t know any more about Sayat Nova at the end of the picture than I knew at the beginning\u201d; nonetheless he declared it a \u201ctimeless cinematic experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ahead of the film\u2019s release, Parajanov stated, \u201cWe want to show the world in which the <\/span>ashugh<\/span><\/i> [Sayat Nova] lived, the sources that nourished his poetry\u2026 National architecture, folk art, nature, daily life, and music will play a large role in the \ufb01lm\u2019s pictorial decisions.\u201d The shoot was completed in the Armenian monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin, in Georgia\u2019s Kahketi region and the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. Levon Gregorian, assistant director on set, observed that it was Parajanov\u2019s intention to \u201creveal the culture of the three peoples of Transcaucasia.\u201d The figure of Sayat Nova provided a perfect medium for such an endeavor. He was the most celebrated of the <\/span>ashugh<\/span><\/i>, a tradition that was common to Armenians, Georgians and Azerbaijanis. Indeed, <\/span>Sayat Nova\u2019s canon<\/span><\/a> includes poetic works in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian and Russian (and, according to some scholars, Persian).<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>ashugh<\/span><\/i> tradition was heavily influenced by cultural currents that entered the Caucasus from the Islamic world. The name itself is derived from the Arabic term <\/span>ashiq<\/span><\/i> (\u201clover\u201d), although it was Persian poetic conventions and musical ideas in particular that informed the arts of the minstrels. Persian influences are also immediately apparent in <\/span>The Color of Pomegranates<\/span><\/i>. There are frequent shots of Qajar-era Persian frescoes, while central characters in certain scenes wear costumes from the same period. In a later interview, Parajanov <\/span>remarked that he intended<\/span><\/a> the movie to resemble a \u201cPersian jewelry case. On the outside its beauty fills the eyes; you see the fine miniatures. Then you open it, and inside you see still more Persian accessories.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the acclaim that <\/span>The Color of Pomegranates<\/span><\/i> received, Soviet authorities continued to regard Parajanov with suspicion. In 1974 he was sentenced and <\/span>imprisoned in Ukraine<\/span><\/a> on politically motivated charges. An international campaign for his release saw him win his freedom in 1978, but he was imprisoned again on bribery charges in 1982. During this period, he managed to sustain his artistic output, creating a series of collages and sketches that are now housed in the <\/span>Sergei Parajanov Museum<\/span><\/a> in Yerevan, Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Younger
Sergei Parajanov, director by Mikhail Vartanov (courtesy The Parajanov Vartanov Institute<\/a>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On his release from prison, Parajanov bounced back promptly. His next feature, <\/span>The Legend of Suram Fortress<\/span><\/i><\/a>, first screened in 1985, was based on a long-standing Georgian folk tale about a youth entombed in the wall of a castle to fortify its structure. Like <\/span>The Color of Pomegranates<\/span><\/i>, created over 15 years earlier, the new release was liberally endowed with Turkish and Persian motifs and symbols, both active, such as a <\/span>muezzin<\/span><\/i> performing the call to prayer in Arabic and bazaar-goers exclaiming in Azerbajiani, and passive, such as now-familiar \u201ctableaux\u201d shots that featured hookah pipes, Turkish porcelain bowls and copperware. There were also innovations, including a more clearly discernible story line and broader framing of some scenes using widescreen landscape shots. Parajanov shot in locations in Georgia as well as the Palace of the Shirvanshahs in Baku, again bringing a trans-Caucasian aspect to the movie. James Steffen notes that alongside Parajanov\u2019s use of Turkish and Persian imagery, he also emphasises \u201cGeorgian visual motifs,\u201d in so doing evoking \u201ca Georgia that possesses a distinct cultural identity but is nonetheless permeated with Persian and Turkish cultural in\ufb02uences.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This movie, too, won international awards, including the prize for the Most Innovative Film at the <\/span>Rotterdam Film Festival<\/span><\/a> in 1987, which Parajanov was able to attend. Indeed, in the era of emerging <\/span>perestroika<\/span><\/i> in the Soviet Union, he was able, for the first time since the early 1960s, to proceed to his next project without official censure or harassment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure enough, in 1988 he produced <\/span>Ashik Kerib<\/span><\/i><\/a>, which was to be his final complete feature. Here, again, he drew on Caucasian folklore, and, again, his creative vision emerged from cross-cultural seeds. Parajanov recounted that when he was ill as a child in Tbilisi, his mother related the story of Ashik Kerib, a much-loved Turkish fairy tale that had been retold by Russian author Mikhail Lermontov. Ashik Kerib is a penniless, Muslim <\/span>ashik<\/span><\/i> from Tbilisi, who is denied the hand of his beloved and takes to the road to make his fortune in order to win her back. As film critic <\/span>Laleen Jayamanne explains<\/span><\/a>, Parajanov uses this tale, and the tribulations that Ashik Kerib encounters, to examine Sufi Islam, which has had a pervasive impact across the Caucasus. The roaming <\/span>ashik<\/span><\/i> \u201cdoes not know what he will encounter,\u201d Jayamanne notes, as he follows a path that \u201cdoes not previously exist, but is created with each step,\u201d thereby creating \u201cthe Sufi way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Russian folklorist Mark Azadovskii noted that Lermontov\u2019s story, which inspired Parajanov, is laced with Turkic, Arabic and Persian terms, as well as Georgian and Armenian places and names, and thus is an example of the \u201ccultural interpenetration\u201d of the Caucasus. There are numerous examples of this in Parajanov\u2019s movie. Persian influences are apparent everywhere, from costume design to the use of Persian miniatures in signature \u201ctableaux\u201d scenes, dialogue is in Azerbaijani, the soundtrack juxtaposes church choirs with Azerbaijani <\/span>mugham<\/span><\/i><\/a> music and while most of the movie was shot on location in Azerbaijan, initial scenes were staged in a wooden mosque from Georgia\u2019s Adjara region.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again, Parajanov was lauded for his ebullient creative vision, winning awards internationally, including the Jury Special Prize at the <\/span>Istanbul Film Festival<\/span><\/a> in 1989, where he travelled to engage with cinema goers. Yet, again, Parajanov\u2019s creative triumph was undermined by political circumstances, this time on a wider scale. <\/span>Escalating conflict<\/span><\/a> between Armenians and Azerbaijanis from 1988 delayed the distribution of <\/span>Ashik Kerib<\/span><\/i> in Armenia. According to Steffen, Parajanov had great affection for the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, and he felt intense sorrow at the violence that erupted between the two peoples. Over 30 years later, ongoing tensions and nationalist acrimony between the two Caucasian states mean that there is no way that a movie such as <\/span>Ashik Kerib<\/span><\/i> could be shot on location by an Armenian production team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Parajanov moved on to his next projects, an autobiographical film, <\/span>The Confession<\/span><\/i>, and a screenplay titled <\/span>The Treasures of Mount Ararat<\/span><\/i>. Both remain unrealized, as Parajanov was hospitalized with lung cancer in Yerevan, dying at the age of 66 in July 1990. He was widely mourned in his home city of Tbilisi and across Armenia, and by cinephiles globally, a group of Italian directors, including Federico Fellini, <\/span>declaring<\/span><\/a>, \u201cCinema has lost one of its magicians.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of number of feature films produced, Parajanov\u2019s output was relatively modest but his dazzling imagery and unbounded imagination have had an enduring impact, winning hearts and minds and bewitching cinemagoers worldwide. His legacy lives on in his museum, inaugurated in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1991, and a <\/span>recently unveiled statue<\/span><\/a>. The affection that Georgia holds for him is apparent in the recent <\/span>naming of a street<\/span><\/a> in his honor in Tbilisi.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2023, <\/span>UNESCO voted to recognize<\/span><\/a> the 100<\/span>th<\/span> anniversary of his birth. Indicative of affection for him across Europe, the UNESCO application was jointly submitted by Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine, and was supported by Cyprus, France, Italy, Lebanon and Poland.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, Parajanov was an auteur with a distinctive vision who created jewelled cinematic moments from objects, legends and rituals from across Europe, the Caucasus and Western Asia. We are left to imagine what else he may have created had he not been hobbled by the strictures of the Soviet regime and had his life not been cut short by illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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