The screenplay of the Autumn Pastoral (1971) was written by Artavazd Peleshian for Armenia’s film studio. Mikhail Vartanov wrote the usual “director’s scenario” and composer Tigran Mansuryan improvised the score on the spot by looking at the final cut of the film. Like The Color of the Armenian Land (1969), Autumn Pastoral has no dialogue and is one of four films Vartanov created in collaboration with Mansurian, who later also scored And So Every Day and Awaiting. The censors shelved Autumn Pastoral and ruled that the poorly dressed villagers could embarrass the Soviet Union. After Vartanov was fired for campaigning for Parajanov‘s release from the prison, Pelechian successfully petitioned the Soviet authorities to approve Vartanov as the cinematographer of the Seasons of the Year (1975), which explored the same theme of the life of shepherds in the mountains of Armenia.
Parajanov-Vartanov Institute 
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