The Parajanov-Vartanov Institute studies, preserves and promotes the artistic legacies of the late persecuted filmmakers and "brothers-in-arts" Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990)
and Mikhail Vartanov (1937-2009), who were admired by some of the most important
figures in cinema, literature and art. The institute presents its annual awards in Hollywood to underrated artists.
Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) created such masterpieces as the
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) and Color of Pomegranates (1968), which appear on the lists of the greatest
motion pictures of all time, and were praised by Fellini, Antonioni, Godard, Bertollucci, and Tarkovsky, for the unique cinematic language.
Mikhail Vartanov (1937-2009) developed a method of documentary filmmaking termed the 'direction of undirected action'
and his work as a documentarian, cinematographer, and essayist became revered through such timeless films as The Color of Land (1969), Seasons (1975),
The Last Spring (1992), and The Unmailed Letters essays.
Probably, besides the film language suggested by Griffith and Eisenstein...cinema has not discovered anything revolutionarily new
until (Parajanov's) Color of Pomegranates...
Vartanov...brother-in-arts... you posses everthing an artist needs - mind, kindness, principles, freedom...Create... perhaps you're the only friend who
compels me to live...
Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight presented the 2011 Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award honoring French film icon Jean Vigo (1905-1934)
to his daughter and Paris-based film critic Luce Vigo at Beverly Hills Film Festival awards held at Four Seasons Hotel on April 10, 2011.
For press inquiries, more information, to become a donor, sponsor, or volunteer, please contact: institute @ parajanov .com
Oscar-winning film director Martin Scorsese sent a letter to the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute for the occassion of the institute's
Jean Vigo retrospective with words on Vigo, Sergei Paradjanov and Mikhail Vartanov, all of whom were non-conformists, struggled with censorship,
left a brief filmography, remain underrated yet highly revered by the leading international intelligentsia, media, and cineastes.
"...It is fitting that the institute named in memory of Paradjanov and Mikhail Vartanov,
who made the wonderful film PARADJANOV: THE LAST SPRING, is honoring the genius of Jean Vigo
with the first Hollywood retrospective in recent years... I wish I could be there..."
2011 Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award
Presented to the forever 3 year old Luce Vigo
To honor her eternally 29 year old father, the genius,
Jean Vigo (1905-1934) for his masterpiece Zero de Conduit
Adored by Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) and Mikhail Vartanov (1937-2009)
2011 Press
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
UCLA Film and Television Archive
Beverly Hills Film Festival
French Embassy's Los Angeles Film and Television Office
Martin Scorsese
Svetlana S. Parajanov (Ukraine)
Svetlana M. Vartanov (Armenia)
Suren S. Parajanov (Ukraine)
Carlos Muguiro (Spain)
Mikael Hakhnazaryan (Germany)