Three Homelands: A Sergei Parajanov Retrospective

The UCLA Film & Television Archive and American Cinematheque present a comprehensive centennial retrospective of Parajanov's films.

Saturday, November 23, 2024 to Wednesday, December 18, 2024
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (Pacific Time)

About this 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.

Collaborators and partners: Daniel Bird, Cecilia Cenciarelli (Cineteca di Bologna), Olena Honcharuk (Dovzhenko Centre), Zaza Abashidze, Georgian Film, Cinema Foundation of Armenia.

Community partners: Armenian Film Society, Queer Film LA, The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA, UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies.

Programs & Events

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors _ November 23, 2024 - 7:00 pm _ American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre

The Color of Pomegranates _ December 4, 2024 - 7:00 pm _ American Cinematheque at the Los Feliz 3

Parajanov: The Last Spring _ December 7, 2024 - 7:30 pm _ Billy Wilder Theater

Andriesh / The First Lad _ December 8, 2024 - 7:00 pm Billy Wilder Theater

The Legend of Suram Fortress _ December 11, 2024 - 7:00 pm _ American Cinematheque at the Los Feliz 3

Ukrainian Rhapsody + short films _ December 13, 2024 - 7:30 pm _ Billy Wilder Theate

The Flower on the Stone + short films _ December 15, 2024 - 7:00 pm _ Billy Wilder Theater

Ashik Kerib _ December 18, 2024 - 7:00 pm _ American Cinematheque at the Los Feliz 3