DVD
The color of pomegranates = Sayat nova
Call Number
- DVD FOREIGN (CEN)
Edition
Two-DVD special edition.
Languages
In Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian, with English subtitles.
Performers
Sofiko Chiaureli, Melkon Alekyan, Vilen Galstyan, Georgi Gegechkori.
Publication Information
[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2018]
Physical Description
2 videodisc (78 minutes) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded sheet (color illustrations ; 19 cm.)
Audience
Not rated.
Uniform Title
Summary
"A breathtaking fusion of poetry, ethnography, and cinema, Sergei Parajanov's masterwork overflows with images and sounds that burn into the memory. In a series of tableaux that blend the tactile with the abstract, THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES revives the splendors of Armenian culture through the story of the eighteenth-century troubadour Sayat-Nova, charting his intellectual, artistic, and spiritual growth through iconographic compositions rather than traditional narrative. The film's tapestry of folklore and metaphor departed from the realism that dominated the Soviet cinema of its era, leading authorities to block its distribution, with rare underground screenings presenting it in a restructured form. This edition features the cut closest to Parajanov's original vision, in a restoration that brings new life to one of cinema's most enigmatic meditations on art and beauty"--Container.
Notes
Title from container.
Originally released as a motion picture in 1969.
Special features: New 4K digital restoration, undertaken by The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna ; new audio commentary featuring critic, filmmaker, and festival programmer Tony Rayns ; The color of Armenian land, a rarely seen 1969 documentary by Mikhail Vartanov featuring footage of director Sergei Parajanov at work ; new video essay on the film's symbols and references, featuring scholar James Steffen ; new interview with Steffan detailing the production of the film ; documentaries from 1977 and 2003 on Armenian poet Sayat-Nova and Parajanov ; The last film, a 2015 experimental short documentary by Martiros M. Vartanov ; new English subtitle translation.