Short films and Ashik Kerib

Sun 28.01.
19:30

Cinema

Arsenal 1

Kievskie freski

Fragments of a feature about the Second World War, which was stopped during the shooting phase by state authorities due to its “mystic, subjective depiction of the events of the Great War of the Fatherland”. The material not destroyed was only rediscovered 20 years after the film was banned.

Hakob Hovnatanyan

Hands wearing precious rings, extremely fine angles, eyes full of concentration and graceful faces: it was above all members of the nobility and the church that painter Hakob Hovnatanyan (1806–1881) captured with great detail and precision. In his cinematic approximation of the work of the Armenian artist, Parajanov accentuates precisely these lavishly rendered details. The portrait of a portraitist emerges across a series of static shots.

Arabeskebi Pirosmanis temaze

Taking the visual worlds of famous painter Niko Pirosmani (1862–1918) as his starting point, Parajanov evokes, reflects on and shows his great appreciation for the artistic universe of the Georgian artist, his still lives, portraits and genre scenes. A surrealistic and phantasmagorical essay.

Ashik Kerib

Parajanov’s final film is based on a verse by Russian romantic poet Mikhail Lermontov and tells the story of wandering minstrel Kerib, who falls in love with daughter of a merchant. The latter sends the young poet on a thousand-day journey to seek his fortune. Shot close to Baku (Azerbaijan), this multilingual medley of images in magnificent colors is akin to 1001 Nights: rich in ornaments, metaphors and symbols that are expressed in carefully composed visual compositions full of warmth and (self-)irony. (mg)