Sergei Parajanov

Sergei Parajanov, born Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov in Tiflis in 1924 and died in Yerevan in 1990, was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Armenian heritage widely regarded by critics and historians as one of the most influential filmmakers of the twentieth century. Working within and against the constraints of Soviet cinema, he developed a poetic, non-linear and symbolic style that broke from official socialist realism, first fully realized in his 1965 film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, which brought him international acclaim. His 1969 film The Color of Pomegranates, an impressionistic portrait of the poet Sayat-Nova, is frequently ranked among the greatest films ever made. His later films include The Legend of Suram Fortress in 1985 and Ashik Kerib in 1988, completed after years of imprisonment and professional suppression by Soviet authorities.