(1965, Ucraina, 99')
Mesmerizing images, acid colours, realism and surrealism, narration and poetry, sacredness and mundanity are but words to try and describe Sergei Paradjanov’s cinema. The Armenian filmmaker is a recognized maestro. Godard once said of him: “In the temple of cinema there are images, light and reality. Sergei Paradjanov was the master of that temple…”
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors acts as a transition from Parajanov’s early Soviet cinema to the style that will consecrate him to cult status. The film shows two love stories, two deaths, folk magic, and old Soviet realism.