Founder of Hollywood based Parajanov-Vartanov institute Martiros M. Vartanov informed Aravot.am that the famed American distributor Criterion is releasing the Blu-Ray/DVD of Sergei Parajanov’s restored masterpiece “Sayat Nova” with Mikhail Vartanov’s banned 1969 film “The Color of Armenian Land”, and his son’s Martiros M.Vartanov’s first film, entitled “The Last Film”, dedicated to Sergei Parajanov and Mikhail Vartanov.
Mikhail Vartanov in “The Color of Armenian Land” featured his nonconformist friends Parajanov and Minas Avetisyan, as well as Robert Elibekyan, Martin Petrosyan, Yervand Gojabashyan, Arto Tchakmakchian, constructing the narrative through the silent commentary of Martiros Saryan.
The restored “Sayat Nova” (The Color of Pomegranates) by Sergei Parajanov premiered at the 67th Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Parajanov-Vartanov Institute worked on the restoration with L’Immagine Ritrovata lab and The Film Foundation of Martin Scorsese who received the 2014 Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award at Lincoln Center for championing this masterpiece.
The “Color of Armenian Land by Mikhail Vartanov hadn’t been seen in 43 years when it premiered in 2012 at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival’s Parajanov/Vartanov Retrospective, and it’s now available 49 years after it was filmed. Both “Sayat Nova” and “The Color of Armenian Land” were scored by composer Tigran Mansurian.
“The Last Film” by Martiros M. Vartanov was shot at UCLA on an old Bolex movie camera and 16mm black and white Kodak film. It was a semifinalist at the 41st Student Academy Awards and premiered at The Academy ® at LACMA series in Hollywood.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
