Sergei Parajanov

Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov (January 9, 1924 – July 20, 1990) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. His films are known for their poetic, non-linear, and symbolic nature. Widely considered by filmmakers, film critics, and film historians to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, he has been described as a "magician", a "master", and a "conjurer of cinematic worlds".

Parajanov was born to Armenian parents in Tiflis, Georgian SSR. He studied at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow under the tutelage of Ukrainian filmmakers Igor Savchenko and Oleksandr Dovzhenko, and began his career as professional film director in 1954. Parajanov became increasingly disenchanted of his films as well as the state sanctioned art style of socialist realism, prominent throughout the Soviet Union. The film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965), Parajanov's first major work which diverged from socialist realism, gave him international acclaim. He would later disown and proclaim his films made before 1965 as "garbage". Parajanov's subsequent film, The Color of Pomegranates (1969), was met with widespread acclaim among filmmakers and is often considered one of the greatest films ever made.

The Soviet authorities claimed Parajanov was bisexual, which exposed him to increased legal scrutiny over his personal life, films, and political involvement surrounding Ukrainian nationalism. Nearly all of Parajanov's film projects from 1965 to 1973 were banned by the Soviet film administrations, many without discussion.