Parajanov was born in the multicultural city of Tbilisi to an Armenian family. This vibrant, multilingual environment shaped his sensitivity to beauty and symbolism. In 1945, he enrolled in the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, studying under the renowned director Igor Savchenko. There he completed a classical training that later became the foundation for his experimental approach.
Parajanov’s early films in Kyiv during the 1950s — Andriyesh (1954), The First Lad (1958), Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961), and Flower on the Stone (1962) — did not yet exhibit his unique style. He made commissioned films following the requirements of the Soviet film industry. However, the mid-1960s marked a true artistic breakthrough with the release of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965), based on Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi’s novella. The film was not merely an adaptation but an explosion of color, sound, and rhythm, presenting the Carpathians as a magical space and giving Ukrainian cinema a new level of artistic sophistication. Its premiere in Kyiv was a landmark event — attendees, including Dziuba, Stus, and Chornovil, used the event as a protest against the arrests of Ukrainian intellectuals. The film won over 30 international awards, establishing Parajanov as a symbol of Ukrainian “poetic cinema.”
The director’s free-spiritedness and open stance did not fit within the Soviet system. After Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, he could no longer work freely in Ukraine. For nearly ten years, he was banned from filmmaking in the USSR, and his arrest in 1973 on fabricated charges further cemented his status as “unreliable.” He spent four years in prison camps, yet even there he remained an artist, creating drawings, collages, and dolls that later became part of his legacy. Many prominent cultural figures, including Federico Fellini, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Yves Saint Laurent, spoke out in his defense.
Parajanov left behind not only films but also an extensive body of graphics, collages, and installations. His art speaks in symbols and archetypes that transcend time and national borders. Today, he is rightly regarded as one of the most original filmmakers of the 20th century.