Sergei Parajanov: Armenian Film-maker and Artist

Considered one of the greatest masters of cinema in the 20^th century, Sergei Parajanov was born Sarkis Hovsepi  Paradzhanian in 1924, in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the USSR, to Armenian parents, Losif Parajanov and Siranush Bejanova.  He was introduced to art from a young age, as both of his parents were artistically gifted and, at 21 years of age in 1945, he attended the VGIK (one of the oldest and most highly respected film schools in Europe), entering the directing programme under the tutelage of Igor Savchenko. 

Sergei Parajanov

Early Life
In 1948, whilst studying at the film school, Parajanov was arrested for the first time by the Soviet authorities – released 3 months later under an amnesty.  After being released he continued his studies and after completing them, he became an Assistant Director at the Dovshenko Studios in Kiev, making his directorial debut in 1954 – followed with a series of short films and features, which he later dismissed as ‘garbage’.

Parajanov was married twice.  The first time, he married Nigyar Kerimova who was from a Muslim Tatar family.  She converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity in order to marry Parajanov and, unhappily was murdered by her family as a result of her conversion.  In 1956, he was married for the second time to Svitlana Ivanivna Shcherbatiuk, who bore him a son named Suren in 1958.

Most Influential Work
In 1964, he made the film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (a celebration of Ukranian folk culture inspired by Tarkovosky’s film Ivan’s Childhood) that won him many international awards, including a much-coveted British Academy Award.  Unfortunately for Parajanov, it was this film that saw him blacklisted in the USSR because it did not conform to Soviet cinema’s standards of ‘socialist realism’. 

Nonethless, undeterred, he visited Armenia in 1967 to film a documentary called Hakob Hovnatanyan before creating what many considered to be his masterpiece, Sayat Nova (later renamed The Colour of Pomegranate) in 1968.  Regrettably, this film was banned by the Soviet authorities and the system ensured that any further film projects were suppressed.

Incarceration and Suppression
This continued until 1973, when Parajanov was arrested for a 2^nd time by the Soviet government and sentenced to 5 years hard labour.  It was whilst he was incarcerated that he began to create doll-like sculptures, astonishingly complex collages, abstract drawings and other artwork as an artistic outlet – despite being deprived of materials by prison guards.  He actually served 4 years of his five year sentence, before a petition for his release was granted.  However, once released, the censors continued to ensure that he was kept away from cinema; so, instead, he continued to create the same sort of artwork that he had in prison and it is these pieces of artwork that are still exhibited worldwide, today.

Arrested and imprisoned in Tbilisi for the 3^rd time (on a charge of bribery) in 1982, it wasn’t until the mid-1980s (when the political climate in the USSR began to ease) that Parajanov began to resume his passion for film-making. 

The End of His Life
With support from Georgian intellectuals, he made two multi-award-winning films: Legend of Suram Fortress (1984) and Ashik Kerib (1988).  Sadly, in 1990, just as his films were starting to be shown at foreign film festivals and he was receiving long-denied but long-deserved recognition, he succumbed to lung cancer and died, aged just 64, leaving his final monumental project, The Confession, incomplete; it seems that the horrific time he had spent in the Soviet prison system had finally taken its toll.  

However, before he died, he moved back to Yerevan and started to found a museum in his own name – a museum that opened in 1991 and houses over 1,400 exhibits alongside much more.  If you would like to know more about the museum and visiting it, take a look at the blog entitled: Parajanov Museum, Yerevan.