Kino Armenia: The Color of Pomegranates
September 20, 2025
Sergei Parajanov’s empirical masterpiece loosely follows the life of Sayat Nova, “King of Song,” an Armenian poet and musician born in the 18th century, through vibrant sets and costumes and hypnotic shots. This colorful and avant-garde masterpiece provides an utterly transformative cinematic experience.
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Saturday, September 20, 2025
When presenting this film at the Toronto Film Festival, Martin Scorsese called The Color of Pomegranates “unlike anything in cinema history,” and he’s right. Four years after the completion of the film, director Sergei Parajanov was arrested and jailed, and his recently finished movie was hastily re-edited and tragically given a limited release. A recent digital restoration by Cineteca di Bologna and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, this colorful and utterly avant-garde masterpiece is as close as possible to the director’s original vision. This transformative and richly emotional film loosely follows the life of Sayat Nova, “King of Song,” an Armenian poet and musician born in the 18th century. Parajanov sets the tone of the film with experimental editing and cinematography, using static shots and jumps cuts and filling the screen with gloriously vibrant folk costumes and set design. Shot in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kyiv, Parajanov brings multicultural Transcaucasia together in this celebrated and timeless cinematic experience.
- Original Language Title: Sayat Nova
- Director: Sergei Parajanov
- Principal Cast: Sofiko Chiaureli, Melkon Alekian, Vilen Galustian, Giorgi Gegechkori
- Country: Armenia
- Year: 1969
- Running Time: 77 min.
- Screenplay: Sergey Parajanov
- Cinematographers: Suren Shakhbazian
- Editors: Maia Ponomarenko
- Music: Tigran Mansuryan
- Filmography: The Confession (1990), Ashik Kerib (1988), The Legend of Suram Fortress (1985), Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965), Flower on the Stone (1962),Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961), The First Lad (1958)
- Language: Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: World Cinema Foundation