The Colour of Pomegranates (1968)

The film that Martin Scorsese compared to ‘opening a door and walking into another dimension, where time has stopped and beauty has been unleashed’.

Following the international success of Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors (1964), Sergei Parajanov was commissioned by Armenfilm Studios in Yerevan to make a film about the life of the 18th-century Armenian ashugh, Sayat Nova. Eschewing the conventional biopic, Parajanov chose the cinematic visualisation of Sayat Nova’s poetry, mixing ethnic rituals with surrealistic happenings. Deemed inaccessible by Soviet authorities, it was re-cut and given a nominal release under the title The Colour of Pomegranates. The apotheosis of the poetic tradition in Soviet cinema kick-started by Dovzhenko, Sayat Nova still exerts a strong influence on contemporary art house cinema.

1968 USSR, Armenian SSR
Directed by
Sergei Paradjanov
Written by
Sergei Paradjanov
Featuring
Sofiko Chiaureli, Sofiko Chiaureli, Sofiko Chiaureli
Running time
73 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for The Colour of Pomegranates

Critics

Anahit Behrooz
UK
Edwin Carels
Belgium
Nel Dahl
USA
Arman Fatić
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Vigen Galstyan
Armenia
Rosalind Galt
UK
Carmen Gray
New Zealand/Germany
Marián Hausner
Slovakia
Nazmia Jamal
UK
Goran Jovanović
Serbia
Dorota Lech
Canada/Poland
Eri Mahihara
Japan
Emily Maskell
UK
Ruairí McCann
Ireland
Ian Penman
UK
Adam Piron
USA
Behzad Rahimian
Iran
Ivan Ramljak
Croatia
Paula Arantzazu Ruiz
Spain
Caspar Salmon
UK
Rada Šešić
Croatia
Vlado Škafar
Slovenia
Mira Staleva
Bulgaria
Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece
USA
Jalal Toufic
Lebanon

Directors

Ali Abbasi
Denmark
Frank Beauvais
France
Adam Chodzko
UK
Atom Egoyan
Canada
Andrew Kötting
UK
Matthias Müller
Germany
Timothy Quay
USA
Alice Rohrwacher
Italy
Chris Welsby
Canda

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