The Legend of Suram Fortress
Thursday, August 15 at 7pm SERGEI PARAJANOV: SURREALIST POET OF SOVIET CINEMA The Legend of Suram Fortress dir. Sergei Parajanov, Soviet Union, 1984, 35mm, Georgian with English subtitles, 88 min.
“ I always recaII with great gratitude and great pIeasure Sergei Parajanov’ s fiIms which I Iove very much. He had a paradoxicaI and poetic way of thinking. The way he Ioved beauty, the way he couId be absoIuteIy free within his idea of the fiIm.”— Andrei Tarkovsky
Based on an ancient legend, this dazzling film is a surreal ode to Georgian warriors throughout the ages who died for their country. Repeated efforts by the Georgian people to construct a defensive stronghold continually fail. The building collapses until a fortune teller remembers an old prophecy that the son of her erstwhile lover must be bricked up alive in order for the fortress to stand. The young man is faced with the prospect of sacrificing himself to save his country. Like his most-famous film, The Color of Pomegranates, the film consists in a series of tableaux. Once again minimal dialogue is used and the film abounds in surreal, almost oneiric power.
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
Friday, August 16 at 7pm SERGEI PARAJANOV: SURREALIST POET OF SOVIET CINEMA Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors dir. Sergei Parajanov, Soviet Union, 1964, 35mm, Ukrainian with English subtitles, 97 min.
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a boldly conceived and astonishingly photographed blend of enchanting mythology, hypnotic religious iconography, and pagan magic. And although its unsentimental depiction of the harsh realities of Russian regional history forced Sergei Pararajanov into direct conflict with bureaucrats then controlling the Soviet film industry, the film became an international sensation when it was released in 1964.
“ There is no devil in church, only among men.” Deep in the Carpathian Mountains of 19th-century Ukraine, love, hate, life and death among the Hutsul people are as they’ ve been since time began. While young Ivan’ s mother mourns her husband’ s brutal murder, Ivan is drawn to Marichka, the beautiful young daughter of the man who killed his father. But fate tragically decrees that the two lovers will remain apart. Unhappily married to another woman and cursed by a sorcerer in this life, Ivan’ s obsession with his lost love lures him ever closer to a reunion with Marichka in death. ihousephilly. org