MAESTRO

Sergei Parajanov in Vynnitsyia, Ukraine

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Тіні забутих предків), dir. Sergei Parajanov, 1965

The Legend of Suram Fortress (Sergei Parajanov, 1984)

Sergei Parajanov, photographed by Mikhail Belikov

"When Parajanov returned from prison, did you notice a state of emptiness in him?" - "No. He said an amazing phrase: 'I was free in the zone.' This is a special form of higher freedom, the freedom of a creative person, an artist who continues to create, this is a degree of freedom inaccessible to a mere mortal. He possessed this freedom." ~~ From a conversation with Yuri Ilyenko

"The most amazing feature of Parajanov was that he always created a feast around him in some incomprehensible way. His exhibitions always turned into some kind of special Parajanovian carnival, as if he directed them..." ~~ Levon Abramyan

Sergei Parajanov - Picasso's butterfly, 1960s, collage

"You seem to swing open, and every new thought, every image penetrating into you, pulls dozens, hundreds of others - similar and unlike. As if the current is taking you. These are moments of ultimate self-giving, extremely capacious and passionate life." ~~ Sergei Parajanov

"Parajanov takes you beyond the visible, immerses you where eyes are not needed, where, being part of the soul of things, the spirit, giving birth to forms and images, brings them into the world, into the light – where we open our eyes again." ~~ Garegin Zakoyan, image from "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors"

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Тіні забутих предків), dir. Sergei Parajanov, 1965