THE PARADJANOV SEASON N LONDON
By Nadia Kidd; Ksenia Galouchko
The Daily Telegraph
February 23, 2010 Tuesday
London
This March the British Film Institute on London’s Southbank will
host a season of Armenian film-maker Sergei Paradj anov’s works.The
festival will include Paradj anov’s acclaimed features, short films
and documentaries. Elisabetta Eabrizi, curator of the festival,
has long nurtured a passion for the director. Having completed her
university dissertation on his works, since 2005 she has been engaged
by the idea of making Paradjanov known to a wider international
audience. Paradj anov’s legacy has shaped the styles of several
British film-makers, including that of Derek Jarman, whose works were
inspired by The Colour of Pomegranates. Other"followers" include the
Brothers Quay, whom Eabrizi calls "the real masters of animation’.’
Although prominent in his influence on filmmakers of the 20th century,
along with fashion designers, musicians and artists, Paradjanov is
virtually unknown among film lovers.
To Eabrizi, the director’s ability to bring together a variety of
cultures and religions, such as Islam and Christianity, in his films
makes them topical and modern in today’s political and social context.
So when Eabrizi met Layla Alexander-Garret, a London-based Russian
art promoter who was also searching for a venue to host a Paradjanov
film festival, she knew it was a dream come true. Together, the
two Paradjanov admirers pooled then: contacts and experience, and
finally made the long anticipated two-and-a-half-month Paradjanov
festival happen.
The festival will be the biggest Paradjanov celebration ever held
in the UK. The most rec ent Paradj anov-themed cultural event in
the UK goes back to 10 years ago, when the Lumiere cinema put on an
exhibition and screenings in memory of his craft. The festival will
host screenings of Paradjanov’s and Paradjanov-influenced films,
including documentaries by Russian, Ukrainian, Erench and German
film-makers. Some screenings will be followed by Q&A sessions
with Paradjanov’s friends and collaborators, along with Paradjanov
scholars. According to Eabrizi, the festival films will be introduced
by, among others, director Patrick Cazals and film critic and writer
Tony Rayns.
The March 6 symposium will bring together a large variety of guests,
including the director of the Armenian-based Paradjanov museum
and those who have worked with Paradjanov. Contemporary artist Mat
Collishaw has been commissioned to produce a moving image installation
for the festival. The project unites sculpture and the moving image
in an atmospheric work inspired by Paradjanov’s craft. According
to Eabrizi, Colh’shaw, whose show runs until May 9, has managed to
poetically convey the spirit of Paradjanov’s artistic endeavour.
Some events at the festival are being organised exclusively by
Eabrizi’s Russian partner Alexander- Garret, including the photo
exhibition by a Georgian artist Yuri Mechitov, which contains rare
pictures taken during his long friendship with Sergei Paradjanov,
in addition to a memorial concert at the Armenian Church, and a set
of events at the Pushkin House, Russian cultural centre in London,
and in Bristol. And what could be Eabrizi’s next artistic project?
Considering the successful professional collaboration with
Alexander-Garret, the curator might opt for a season of Russian film
classics.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
