Mikhail Vartanov's influential documentary about the imprisoned
genius Sergei Parajanov who was persecuted at the hight of his artistic power for his unruly life style and non-conformist masterpieces -- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and The Color of Pomegranates -- hailed as some
of the greatest motion pictures of the 20th century.
Made in a blockaded, war-torn Armenia, under the prohibitive
conditions of only one hour daily limit of electricity, Parajanov: The Last Spring
caused a sensation at its premieres in Russia and Armenia, and its individual
chapters, and texts, influenced numerous future books, writings, and films.
After the premiere in Russia, Tonino Guerra, the screenwriter of Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni,
wrote: Vartanov's film, Parajanov: The Last Spring, about the last days of our great Parajanov, excited and filled me with the strenght to resume the way of the magnificent tale that the Maestro had taken...
It's the first film...successful in presenting the Genius...seen with the eyes of Mikhail Vartanov's heart
and gifted to the spectators... It's been a long time since the walls of
the House of Cinema heard such sincere ovations of the audience." --The Republic of Armenia Newspaper
Poet Samvel Shakhbazian wrote: The (audience in the) theater was left breathless and then gave the film's author a 15 minutes standing ovation...And I, with everyone, left the theater completely shaken.
In Parajanov: The Last Spring,
Mikhail Vartanov demistifies the film language created by Sergei Paradjanov in just few wise sentences.
The documentary features the behind-the-scenes episodes of Parajanov
at work on his masterpiece Sayat Nova
(The Color of Pomegranates), filmmed by Mikhail Vartanov
in 1967 in his censored documentary
The Color Armenian Land;
a shocking secret request sent by Parajanov to Vartanov in letters from prisons; the friendship of Sergei Parajanov and Andrei Tarkovsky;
Parajanov's own commentary and his last day in cinema - his striking attempt to add sound to his last unfinished film The Confession,
the complete surviving footage of which can only be seen here.
