Container #35 x IMA: Sergei Parajanov screening and talk this Thursday
....with film historian Daniel Bird
Hello. Thank you once again for joining us.
Thursday’s Screening:
Restoring Parajanov, Sergei Parajanov 1967-85, 90m
7pm 7 March at the Institute of Modern Art
Between 1966 and 1985, Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov made three remarkable short films: Kyiv Frescoes, Hakob Hovnatanyan, and Arabesques on the Theme of Pirosmani. However, in 2018 all three titles were in danger of disappearing from film history.
Join us for an illustrated talk and screening hosted by Daniel Bird, one of the world’s leading scholars on Eastern European cult cinema. Hear him share the story of the search for these films in Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia, as well as the stories of the people who made them—not least Parajanov himself. Bird will also speak about the people safeguarding the material legacy of Soviet-era cinema in times of international conflict.
Kyiv Frescoes – Sergei Parajanov (1967, 15m)
Hakob Hovnatanyan – Sergei Parajanov (1967, 10m)
Arabesques on the Theme of Pirosmani – Sergei Parjanov (1985, 21m)
Daniel Bird is an archivist, curator, and filmmaker. He has worked with Polish film director Andrzej Żuławski, is the co-founder of Friends of Walerian Borowczyk, and directs a film-preservation and film-restoration project concerning films from the South Caucasus, Central Asia, and Ukraine.
Unrated 15+ and with thanks to Daniel Bird
Screened in partnership with Institute of Modern Art
This screening is free for all, including non-members.
Additional Reading (for those who have the time and curiosity):
Sergei Parajanov’s formal innovations—most clear in his features Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964), The Colour of Pomegranates (1968), and Ashik Kerib (1988)—are almost inseparable from film history. Senses of Cinema’s overview of Parajanov (via a review of James Steffen’s The Cinema of Sergei Parajanov) and the BFI’s history of Parajanov, help map out his own personal and political history.
Thank you. We look forward to catching you tomorrow for our first screening of 2024.