2012 01 10 - NMS - The Color of Pomegranates (by Sergei Parajanov) - 1968 - Russia

Tuesday, 10th Jan 2012

World Cinema Series - The Color of Pomegranates (by Sergei Parajanov) - 1968 - Russia. NC 16 - Some Nudity - In Armenian with English subtitles -
Tue 10 Jan 2012 - 7.30pm - Gallery Theatre, Basement - S$9 (include handling fees).

Reconnecting with the rich history of Armenia, Parajanov chronicles the life of Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat-Nova from his early years as a wool-dryer, his rise as a court poet and musician for 18th century king of Georgia, his monkhood, to his eventual martyrdom upon execution by the Persians.

With a theatrical formalism steeped in symbolic performance that channel the religious rituals, artefacts and landscape of Parajanov’s ancestral home, chapters of Sayat-Nova’s life are expressed through a series of meticulously constructed tableaus filled with emotionally laden colors that channel and mirror the stanzas and lines of his poems and songs.

Together with a soundtrack that strings together the sounds traditional Armenian instruments with the disorienting dissonance of musique concrete, The Colour of Pomegranates is a total masterpiece that resurrects the mythical aura of a forgotten culture and captures the faith of a suffering artist through a highly modern anticipative gesticulation for a cinema of the future.