Paradjanov: A Requiem

An absorbing portrait of one of the most colorful and revered figures in world cinema, PARADJANOV: A REQUIEM offers an affectionate and insightful look at the tumultuous career of the late Sergei Paradjanov; artist, dissident, romantic and iconoclast. From his early years as a protégé of silent film legends Alexander Dovzhenko and Sergei Eisenstein, Paradjanov charts the evolution of the controversial director's artistry which culminated in the creation of brilliant, hallucinatory film fantasies of Ukranian poetry and folk legends. Rather than being celebrated for this mesmerizing work, the Armenian director was branded a "surrealist" by Soviet authorities and imprisoned for his artistic and intellectual challenges to the reigning dogma of socialist realism. Rare, extensive interviews with the outspoken director are interlaced with clips from Paradjanov's filmic seductions of the eye and imagination. Drawings, photographs and fragments of uncompleted films coalesce to make PARADJANOV: A REQUIEM a revealing account of an unforgettable artist.

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