The aborted film project Kyiv Frescoes (1966) is a testament to the uncharted territories Sergei Parajanov started to explore after Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965). Together with Hakob Hovnatanyan (1967), a playful montage film about the titular portrait painter known as the ‘Raphael of Tiflis’, Kyiv Frescoes forms a crucial preparation for The Colour of Pomegranates. Twenty years later, with Arabesques on the Theme of Pirosmani (1986), Parajanov again brushed a painter portrait in lively, colourful strokes.
Short Film Program ‘Parajanov Triptych’
