ENGLAND OPENS DOORS TO SERGEY PARADJANOV’S WORLD
ArmInfo
2010-02-15 18:21:00
ArmInfo. Sergei Paradjanov Festival will be held in London and Bristol
on 22 Feb-9 May 2010.
The press-service of the organization committee told ArmInfo that
the Sergei Paradjanov Festival in London and Bristol is the first
major celebration of the legendary artist and filmmaker whose talent
transcends religious and political boarders, drawing on the cultural
traditions of Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Russia. The Festival aims
to present the life and works of Sergei Paradjanov to UK audiences
through a series of diverse events that include: a film season;
a moving image installation; a symposium and a workshop at the
BFI Southbank; a photographic exhibition at the National Theatre;
screenings and talks at Pushkin House; a concert at St. Yeghiche
Armenian Church; a film retrospective at Arnolfini (Bristol); and a
photographic exhibition at The Bristol Gallery.
Sergei Paradjanov (1924-1990) is one of the 20th century’s greatest
masters of cinema. Armenian born in Georgia, Paradjanov studied
film in Moscow, worked in Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia. He started
making films in 1954 and is celebrated for his poetic and visionary
films including The Colour of Pomegranates (1968) and Ashik Kerib
(1988). A winner of British Academy Award for the "Shadows of Forgotten
Ancestors", Paradjanov was a constant target of Soviet authorities;
deprived of the opportunity to make films for fifteen years, five
of which were spent in hard labour camps, he found the most vibrant
means of expressing his talent through drawings, collages and writing.
Paradjanov was ahead of his time, for his works posses the elements and
stylistics which came to constitute contemporary arts – performance,
video art and moving image and mixed media installations.
The festival will feature a number of talks and introductions
by distinguished guests, experts on Paradjanov’s works, who will
elaborate on the significance of Paradjanov’s phenomenon and the
legacy of his creation.
The Sergei Paradjanov Festival is organised by Layla Alexander-Garrett
and GLAZ in conjunction with BFI Southbank, and sponsored by UNISTREAM
money transfers, British Georgian Chamber of Commerce, Armenian
Community and Church Council of Great Britain, Ukraine International
Airlines, Ivan the Terrible, Brown’s Hotel.