Restored & Unseen: The Color of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova)

This classic by Parajanov is not a dramatised portrait of the poet Arutyun Sayadyan, better known as Sayat-Nova (the “King of Songs”), but an associative portrait full of metaphors and dreams, arabesques and still lifes. It is a film designed like an oriental tapestry: quirky and unpredictable in line and colour, but at the same time expressive of great aesthetic harmony. The Color of Pomegranates is also a statement about the Messianic role of the artist, in this case the filmmaker Parajanov, who regarded this film as his finest.

EYE screens the director”s cut of 1969, which is the original version. The print that was previously released in the Netherlands was an –equally long – reedited version made by Sergey Yutkevich in 1973 and authorized by Parajanov after the latter”s director”s cut had been banned in the Soviet Union. Parajanov was subsequently condemned by the authorities and often imprisoned for his critical and non-conformist attitude, both in his work and his life.

Syrian New Waves curator Donatella Della Ratta connects The Color of Pomegranates with the work of the Syrian filmmaker Avo Kaprealian, whose documentary Houses without Doors is screened at 19.00 on 8 september.