Parajanov would turn 85 today
armradio.am
09.01.2009 20:57
Renowned Armenian film director of the 20th century, People’s Artist of
Armenia and Ukraine Sergey Parajanov would turn 85 today. On this
occasion his relatives and art lovers visited the Komitas Pantheon to
pay tribute to the memory of the great aesthete.
The whole life of the famous and wonderful director was an amusing and
tragic, attractive and sometimes very dangerous game, especially in a
Soviet country. His first important film was the `Shadows of forgotten
ancestors’ shot in 1964.
One of Parajanov’s masterpieces is the film `The color of pomegranate’
telling about Sayat Nova. Both films were, however, criticized during
Soviet times. `Being the king of clowns, he never became the clown of
the kings.’ These words are perhaps the most characteristic of
Parajanov.
According to Director of Parajanov’s home-museum Zaven sargsyan, his
greatest value was that he was trying to have no controversies with his
own conscience, say what he thinks and what he considers to be right.
In 1973 the Soviet government sentenced Parajanov to five years of
imprisonment, accusing him of homosexuality. Many artists, writers,
directors from different sides of the world reacted to his
imprisonment. Despite that, only in four years Parajanov was set free
due to mediation of Louis Aragon, a world-known French writer.
0AFor many years he was prohibited from shooting films. Only in 19820 he
was allowed to shoot the `Legend of the Surinam Tower’ and `Ashug
Gharib.’
During the last years of his life Parajanov was shooting the
autobiographic film `Confession,’ which remained uncompleted and was
later used for Michael Vardanov’s documentary titled `Parajanov’s last
spring.’ Parajanov died of cancer in July 1990 in Yerevan. 2009 is a
jubilee year for the great artist.
Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan assures that the occasion will be
used to present the greatest Armenian director to the world.