November 23 - December 18, 2024 Three Homelands: A Sergei Parajanov Retrospective Series | SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS, “Hakob Hovnatanyan,” THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES, THE LEGEND OF SURAM FORTRESS, “Arabesques on the Theme of Pirosmani,” “Confession,” ASHIK KERIB Special thanks to our collaborators and partners: guest programmer Bernardo Rondeau, Daniel Bird, Cecilia Cenciarelli (Cineteca di Bologna), Olena Honcharuk (Dovzhenko Centre), Zaza Abashidze, Georgian Film and Cinema Foundation of Armenia. Special thanks to our community partners Queer Film LA, The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA, UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies and Armenian Film Society Series photo courtesy of Mikhail Vartanov In partnership with the UCLA Film & Television Archive
ABOUT THE SERIES: “In the temple of cinema there are images, light and reality. Sergei Parajanov was the master of that temple.” – Jean-Luc Godard Born on January 9, 1924, to an Armenian family in Tbilisi, Georgia in the final years of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, Sergei Parajanov studied voice at the Tblisi State Conservatory before transitioning to cinema at the All-Union State Film School in Moscow. Subsequently employed by the Dovzhenko Film Studio in Kyiv, he joined the Thaw Generation of post-Stalinist filmmakers, writers and artists who pushed Socialist Realism to new forms of creativity and expression. Parajanov’s body of work can be easily bifurcated into two periods – his more sober Ukrainian films, most of them rarely screened in the United States and his internationally-recognized masterpieces produced across the Caucasus region between stints of state-imposed persecution and incarceration. Deeply knowledgeable of the rich traditions and cultures throughout Caucausia, Parajanov reimagined cinema as a vibrant fusing of movement, myth, music, ritual and folk arts. His approach was inclusive and open to diverse influences. At once both archaic and modernist, Parajanov’s cinema proudly stood out of time and beyond borders. “Everybody knows that I have three motherlands,” the filmmaker once claimed. During his centennial year of 2024, Parajanov has been commemorated in Georgia and Armenia and received UNESCO recognition. Due to obvious challenges, Ukraine has been unable to hold any Parajanov festivities. We believe this film series, the filmmaker’s most comprehensive centennial retrospective, will help honor his Ukrainian legacy. Featuring a new restoration and scans from original camera negatives, ‘Three Homelands’ offers a complete look at one of cinema’s true visionaries. Series guest programmed and notes by Bernardo Rondeau. Screenings at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024) include: PARAJANOV: THE LAST SPRING on December 7, 2024 at 7:30pm ANDREISH / THE FIRST LAD on December 8, 2024 at 7:00pm UKRAINIAN RHAPSODY + Short Films on December 13, 2024 at 7:30pm THE FLOWER ON THE STONE + Short Films on December 15, 2024 at 7:00pm