59-580: Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov (January 9, 1924 – July 20, 1990) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He is regarded by film critics, film historians, and filmmakers to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Parajanov was born to ethnically Armenian parents in Georgia . He studied at Moscow's VGIK under the tutualge 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
118-615: A union republic within the USSR. From November 18, 1989, the Georgian SSR declared its sovereignty over Soviet laws. The republic was renamed the Republic of Georgia on November 14, 1990, and subsequently became independent before the dissolution of the Soviet Union on April 9, 1991, whereupon each former SSR became a sovereign state. Geographically, the Georgian SSR was bordered by Turkey to
177-505: A conservative and generally ineffective Communist who coped poorly with the challenges of perestroika . Towards the end of the late 1980s, increasingly violent clashes occurred between the Communist authorities, the resurgent Georgian nationalist movement and nationalist movements in Georgia's minority-populated regions (notably South Ossetia ). On 9 April 1989, Soviet troops were used to break up
236-519: A director of "majestic style". In 1965 Parajanov abandoned socialist realism and directed the poetic Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors , his first film over which he had complete creative control. It won numerous international awards well received by the Soviet authorities, who praised the film for "conveying the poetic quality and philosophical depth of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky ’s tale through the language of cinema," and called it "a brilliant creative success of
295-510: A few Russian and Ukrainian language documentaries ( Dumka, Golden Hands, Natalia Uzhvy) and a handful of narrative films: Andriesh, The Top Guy, Ukrainian Rhapsody, and Flower on the Stone . He became fluent in Ukrainian and, in 1956, married Svitlana Ivanivna Shcherbatiuk (1938–2020), with whom he had a son in 1958. In a 1988 interview, he stated, "Everyone knows that I have three motherlands. I
354-521: A key purveyor of ideologically harmful opinion. He was also deemed as someone with a desire to defect if were to travel abroad. In December 1973, he was arrested in Kyiv, and was accused of homosexuality, sodomy, and propagation of pornography. He was sentenced to five years in a hard labour camp. Three days before Parajanov was due to be sentenced, Andrei Tarkovsky wrote a letter to the Central Committee of
413-498: A large collection of abstract drawings and pursued numerous other avenues of non-cinematic art, sewing more dolls and some whimsical suits. In February 1982 Parajanov was once again imprisoned, on charges of bribery, which happened to coincide with his return to Moscow for the premiere of a play commemorating Vladimir Vysotsky at the Taganka Theatre , and was effected with some degree of trickery. Despite another stiff sentence, he
472-691: A month before being replaced by three new states: the Georgian Democratic Republic , the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic . The 1919 parliamentary elections saw the Social Democratic Party come to power in Georgia. It tried to establish a moderate left , multi-party system, but faced some internal and external problems. Georgia was dragged into wars against Armenia and remnants of
531-432: A new policy of forming a " Soviet people ". The "Soviet people" were said to be a "new historical, social, and international community of people having a common territory, economy, and socialist content; a culture that reflected the particularities of multiple nationalities; a federal state; and a common ultimate goal: the construction of communism." Russian was meant to become the common language of this community, considering
590-580: A peaceful demonstration at the government building in Tbilisi. Twenty Georgians were killed and hundreds wounded. The event radicalised Georgian politics, prompting many—even some Georgian communists—to conclude that independence was preferable to Soviet unity and would provide Georgia with a chance to fully integrate both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, whose peoples were still loyal to the Union. On October 28, 1990, democratic parliamentary elections were held. On November 14
649-475: A place named Kangaroo sounded comical to its hearers, just as place names like Kalamazoo , and Booger Hole , and Okeefenokee Swamp , strike us as comical." The term is still in common use in the Anglosphere . The term is sometimes used without any negative connotation. For example, many Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball teams have a kangaroo court to punish players for errors on
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#1732869529288708-518: A predetermined conclusion. The term is also used for a court held by a legitimate judicial authority, but which intentionally disregards the court's legal or ethical obligations (compare show trial ). A kangaroo court could also develop when the structure and operation of the forum result in an inferior brand of adjudication. A common example of this is when institutional disputants ("repeat players") have excessive and unfair structural advantages over individual disputants ("one-shot players"). The term
767-488: A reputation as a fighter of corruption and engineered the removal of Vasil Mzhavanadze , the corrupt First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party . Shevardnadze ascended to the post of First Secretary with the blessings of Moscow. He was an effective and able ruler of Georgia from 1972 to 1985, improving the official economy and dismissing hundreds of corrupt officials. In the 1970s Soviet authorities adopted
826-786: A story by Mikhail Lermontov . It is the story of a wandering minstrel, set in the Azerbaijani culture . Parajanov dedicated the film to his close friend Andrei Tarkovsky and "to all the children of the world". Parajanov died of Lung cancer in Yerevan , Armenia on July 20, 1990, aged 66, leaving this final work, The Confession , unfinished. It survives in its original negative as Parajanov: The Last Spring , created by his close friend Mikhail Vartanov in 1992. Federico Fellini , Tonino Guerra , Francesco Rosi , Alberto Moravia , Giulietta Masina , Marcello Mastroianni and Bernardo Bertolucci were among those who publicly mourned his death. They sent
885-467: A telegram to Russia with the following statement: "The world of cinema has lost a magician. Parajanov’s fantasy will forever fascinate and bring joy to the people of the world…”. Despite having studied film at the VGIK , Parajanov discovered his artistic path only after seeing Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky 's dreamlike first film Ivan's Childhood . Parajanov was highly appreciated by Tarkovsky himself in
944-510: A transitional period was declared until the restoration of Georgia's independence and in this regard, the republic changed its name to " Republic of Georgia ". Georgia (excluding Abkhazia) was one of the six republics along with Armenia , Moldova and the Baltic States who boycotted participation in the March 1991 union-wide preservation referendum . On 31 March 1991, a referendum was held on
1003-795: Is known to have been used in the United States in 1841: an article in The Daily Picayune , New Orleans quotes the Concordia Intelligencer reporting several lynchings "upon various charges instituted by the Kangaroo court", asking "Don't comprehend: What is a Kangaroo court?" The term is not attested to have been used in Australia, native land of the kangaroo , or elsewhere before then. The term kangaroo court may have originated in Britain. In
1062-452: Is lost", he reportedly said. However, directors such as Theo Angelopoulos , Béla Tarr and Mohsen Makhmalbaf share Parajanov's approach to film as a primarily visual medium rather than as a narrative tool. The Parajanov-Vartanov Institute was established in Hollywood in 2010 to study, preserve and promote the artistic legacies of Sergei Parajanov and Mikhail Vartanov . In 2024, marking
1121-887: The Armenian SSR and the Azerbaijan SSR . During this period the province was led by Lavrentiy Beria , the first secretary of the Georgian Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia . In 1936, the TSFSR was dissolved and Georgia became the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Lavrentiy Beria became head of the Georgian branch of the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) and
1180-678: The Axis powers never reached as far as Georgia. The country contributed almost 700,000 fighters (350,000 were killed) to the Red Army, and was a vital source of textiles and munitions. During this period Joseph Stalin , an ethnic Georgian, ordered the deportation of the Chechen , German , Ingush , Karachay , Karapapaks , Meskhetian Turks and Balkarian peoples from the Caucasus ; they were transported to Siberia and Central Asia for alleged collaboration with
1239-518: The Dovzhenko film studio ." Authorities allowed the release the film with its original Ukrainian soundtrack intact, rather than redub the dialogue into Russian for Soviet-wide release, in order to preserve its Ukrainian integrity. (Russian dubbing was standard practice at that time for non-Russian Soviet films when they were distributed outside the republic of origin.) In 1969, Parajanov briefly moved to Armenia , to work on his next film, Sayat Nova . It
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#17328695292881298-495: The Gulag . Party officials also suffered the purges. Many prominent Georgian Bolsheviks, such as Mikheil Kakhiani , Mamia Orakhelashvili , Sergo Ordzhonikidze , Budu Mdivani , Mikheil Okujava and Samson Mamulia were removed from office and killed. Reaching the Caucasus oilfields was one of the main objectives of Adolf Hitler 's invasion of the USSR in June 1941, but the armies of
1357-505: The Nazis . He also abolished their respective autonomous republics. The Georgian SSR was briefly granted some of their territory until 1957. On March 9, 1956, about a hundred Georgian students were killed when they demonstrated against Nikita Khrushchev 's policy of de-Stalinization that was accompanied by an offhanded remark he made about Georgians at the end of his anti-Stalin speech . The decentralisation program introduced by Khrushchev in
1416-604: The Old East Slavic poem The Tale of Igor's Campaign , but film scripts for these were never completed. Selected bibliography of books and scholarly articles about Sergei Parajanov. Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as Soviet Georgia , the Georgian SSR , or simply Georgia , was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its second occupation (by Russia) in 1921 to its independence in 1991 . Coterminous with
1475-580: The Ottoman Empire , while the rapid spread of ideas of revolutionary socialism in rural regions accounted for some Soviet-backed peasants' revolts in Racha , Samegrelo and Dusheti . In 1921, the crisis came to a head. The 11th Red Army invaded Georgia from the south and headed to Tbilisi . On 25 February, after a one-week offence by the Red Army, Tbilisi fell to the Bolsheviks. Georgian Bolsheviks took over
1534-469: The Soviet Union , many without discussion. Parajanov's films are ranked among the greatest films of all time by Sight & Sound . He won prizes at Mar del Plata Film Festival , Istanbul International Film Festival , Nika Awards , Rotterdam International Film Festival , Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival , São Paulo International Film Festival and others. A comprehensive retrospective in
1593-555: The 100th anniversary of Parajanov's birth, Ukrainian film maker Taras Tomenko made the documentary "A Sentimental Journey to the Parajanov Planet". The film premierd internationally at the 40th Warsaw Film Festival where it won the 3rd place in the Audience Award for documentary films. Among his projects, there also were plans for adapting Longfellow 's The Song of Hiawatha , Shakespeare 's Hamlet , Goethe 's Faust ,
1652-471: The Australian miners' presence, it may have come about as a description of the hastily carried-out proceedings used to deal with the issue of claim-jumping miners. The derivation of the term is not known, although there has been speculation. It could be from the notion of justice proceeding "by leaps", like a kangaroo – in other words, "jumping over" (intentionally ignoring) evidence that would be in favour of
1711-599: The Communist Party of Ukraine , asserting that "In the last ten years Sergei Parajanov has made only two films: Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors and The Colour of Pomegranates . They have influenced cinema first in Ukraine , second in this country as a whole, and third in the world at large. Artistically, there are few people in the entire world who could replace Paradanov. He is guilty – guilty of his solitude. We are guilty of not thinking of him daily and of failing to discover
1770-548: The UK took place in 2010 at BFI Southbank . The retrospective was curated by Layla Alexander-Garrett and Parajanov specialist Elisabetta Fabrizi who commissioned a Parajanov inspired new commission in the BFI Gallery by contemporary artist Matt Collishaw ('Retrospectre'). A symposium was dedicated to Parajanov's work bringing together experts to discuss and celebrate the director's contribution to cinema and art. Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov
1829-434: The best contemporary film directors, strikes with its perfection of beauty.” Parajanov was also admired by American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola . French film director Jean-Luc Godard also stated that "In the temple of cinema, there are images, light, and reality. Sergei Parajanov was the master of that temple". Despite having many admirers of his art, his vision did not attract many followers. "Whoever tries to imitate me
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1888-537: The biographical film " Voyage in Time " ("Always with huge gratitude and pleasure I remember the films of Sergei Parajanov which I love very much. His way of thinking, his paradoxical, poetical... ability to love the beauty and the ability to be absolutely free within his own vision"). In the same film Tarkovsky stated that Parajanov is one of his favorite filmmakers. Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni stated that “The Color of Pomegranates by Parajanov, in my opinion one of
1947-489: The camp were repeatedly compromised by prison guards, who deprived him of materials and called him mad, their cruelty only subsiding after a statement from Moscow admitted that "the director is very talented." After his return from prison to Tbilisi, the close watch of Soviet censors prevented Parajanov from continuing his cinematic pursuits and steered him towards the artistic outlets he had nurtured during his time in prison. He crafted extraordinarily intricate collages, created
2006-544: The common borders between Turkey and the three Transcaucasian republics of the Soviet Union. Georgian SSR was forced to cede Georgian-dominated Artvin Okrug to Turkey in exchange for Adjara , which was granted political autonomy within Georgian SSR under Soviet rule. In 1922 the Georgian SSR was incorporated into Soviet Union. From March 12, 1922, to December 5, 1936, it was part of the Transcaucasian SFSR together with
2065-483: The constitutional guarantee the same year. April 14 was established as a Day of the Georgian Language. In 1981, massive celebrations took place in honour of the republic's 60th anniversary, with a mass event taking place in front of General Secretary Brezhnev on Tbilisi's Constitution Square. Shevardnadze's appointment as Soviet Foreign Minister in 1985 brought his replacement in Georgia by Jumber Patiashvili ,
2124-596: The country and proclaimed the establishment of the Georgian SSR. Some small-scale battles between Bolshevik troops and Georgian Army also took place in Western Georgia. In March 1921 the government of the Georgian Democratic Republic was forced in exile . On March 2 of the following year the first constitution of Soviet Georgia was accepted. On 13 October 1921 the Treaty of Kars was signed, which established
2183-407: The defendant. An alternative suggestion is that, as these courts are often convened quickly to deal with an immediate issue, they are called kangaroo courts since they have "jumped up" out of nowhere, like a kangaroo. Another possibility is that the phrase could refer to the pouch of a kangaroo, meaning the court is in someone's pocket. Etymologist Philologos suggests that the term arose "because
2242-738: The efforts of the French Surrealist poet and novelist Louis Aragon , the Russian poet Elsa Triolet (Aragon's wife), and the American writer John Updike . His early release was authorized by Leonid Brezhnev , General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presumably as a consequence of Brezhnev's chance meeting with Aragon and Triolet at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. When asked by Brezhnev if he could be of any assistance, Aragon requested
2301-561: The late 1700s, British courts began sentencing people convicted of various crimes to penal transportation to Australia. In the 1800s this was sometimes referred to as the "Kangaroo Jump". It's possible that those sentenced to transportation may have protested that they had been convicted and sentenced by a kangaroo court. Some sources suggest that the term may have been popularized during the California Gold Rush of 1849 to which many thousands of Australians flocked. In consequence of
2360-424: The mid-1950s was soon exploited by Georgian Communist Party officials to build their own regional power base. A thriving pseudo-capitalist shadow economy emerged alongside the official state-owned economy. While the official growth rate of the economy of the Georgia was among the lowest in the USSR, such indicators as savings level, rates of car and house ownership were the highest in the Union, making Georgia one of
2419-430: The most economically successful Soviet republics. Among all the union republics, Georgia had the highest number of residents with high or special secondary education. Although corruption was hardly unknown in the Soviet Union , it became so widespread and blatant in Georgia that it came to be an embarrassment to the authorities in Moscow. Eduard Shevardnadze , the country's interior minister between 1964 and 1972, gained
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2478-535: The present-day republic of Georgia , it was based on the traditional territory of Georgia, which had existed as a series of independent states in the Caucasus prior to the first occupation of annexation in the course of the 19th century. The Georgian SSR was formed in 1921 and subsequently incorporated in the Soviet Union in 1922. Until 1936 it was a part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , which existed as
2537-602: The release of Parajanov, which was effected by December 1977. While he was incarcerated, Parajanov produced a large number of miniature doll-like sculptures (some of which were lost) and some 800 drawings and collages, many of which were later displayed in Yerevan , where the Sergei Parajanov Museum is now permanently located. (The museum, opened in 1991, a year after Parajanov's death, hosts more than 200 works as well as furnishings from his home in Tbilisi .) His efforts in
2596-508: The restoration of Georgia's independence on the basis of the Independence Act of 26 May 1918. The majority of voters voted in favor of the act. Georgia declared independence on 9 April 1991 under Zviad Gamsakhurdia as one of the republics to secede just four months before the failed coup against Gorbachev in August, which was supported by a declining number of hardliners. However, this
2655-548: The role that Russian was playing for the nations and nationalities of the Soviet Union. However, in 1978, Soviet authorities had to face the opposition of thousands of Georgians, who gathered in downtown Tbilisi to hold mass demonstration after Soviet officials accepted removal of the constitutional status of the Georgian language as Georgia's sole official state language. Bowing to pressure from mass street demonstrations on April 14, 1978, Moscow approved Shevardnadze's reinstatement of
2714-644: The significance of a master." An eclectic group of artists, actors, filmmakers and activists protested on behalf of Parajanov, calling for his immediate release. Among them were Robert De Niro , Francis Ford Coppola , Martin Scorsese , Leonid Gaidai , Eldar Ryazanov , Yves Saint Laurent , Marcello Mastroianni , Françoise Sagan , Jean-Luc Godard , François Truffaut , Luis Buñuel , Federico Fellini , Michelangelo Antonioni , Mikhail Vartanov , and Andrei Tarkovsky himself. Parajanov served four years out of his five-year sentence, and later credited his early release to
2773-777: The south-west and the Black Sea to the west. Within the Soviet Union it bordered the Russian SFSR to the north, the Armenian SSR to the south and the Azerbaijan SSR to the south-east. On November 28, 1917, after the October Revolution in Russia , there was a Transcaucasian Commissariat established in Tiflis . On April 22 the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was formed, though it only lasted for
2832-411: The state sanctioned art style of socialist realism , prominent throughout the Soviet Union . After moving to Ukraine and directing Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors , his first major work which diverged from socialist realism and gave him international acclaim, he would later disown and proclaim his films made before 1965 as "garbage." Parajanov subsequently directed The Color of Pomegranates , which
2891-576: The subject of attention by the KGB , for a variety of political activities related to his affinity towards Ukrainian nationalism . He was an active protester following the 1965–1966 Ukrainian purge . In 1969 a report by the Committee for State Security to the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist party indicated their belief that Parajanov is a negative influence on his younger colleagues, as well as
2950-479: The truthfulness of anything Parajanov was charged with; they believe his sentencing was procured through a kangaroo court due to his tendency for political retaliation and rebellious views. In 1950, Parajanov married Nigyar Kerimova, who came from a Muslim Tatar family, in Moscow. After converting to Eastern Orthodox Christianity , Nigyar was murdered by her relatives, who disapproved of the marriage. Parajanov subsequently moved to Kiev , Ukraine , where he produced
3009-502: Was born in Georgia, worked in Ukraine and I'm going to die in Armenia ." Andrey Tarkovsky 's first film, Ivan's Childhood , had an enormous impact on Parajanov's self-discovery as a filmmaker. Later the influence became mutual, and he and Tarkovsky became close friends. Another influence was Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini , who Parajanov would later describe as "like a God" to him and
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#17328695292883068-521: Was born on January 9, 1924 to artistically inclined ethnic Armenians Iosif Parajanov and Siranush Bejanova in Tiflis, Georgia , then part of the Soviet Union. Iosif was a merchant who owned an antique shop, trading jewelry and valuables; he was in frequent trouble with authorities, who often raided his business and seized many of his valuables due to the Soviet Union's ban on financial speculation . Because his father could not get his business legalised, Parajanov
3127-498: Was freed in less than a year, with his health seriously weakened. In 1985, the slow thaw within the Soviet Union spurred Parajanov to resume his passion for cinema. With the encouragement of various Georgian intellectuals, he created the multi-award-winning film The Legend of Suram Fortress , based on a novella by Daniel Chonkadze , his first return to cinema since Sayat-Nova fifteen years earlier. In 1988, Parajanov made another multi-award-winning film, Ashik Kerib , based on
3186-504: Was met with widespread acclaim among filmmakers, and is often considered one of the greatest films ever made. Parajanov was bisexual , which exposed him to increase legal scrutiny from Soviet authorities over his personal life, his films, and political involvement surrounding Ukrainian nationalism . Nearly all of his film projects from 1965 to 1973 were banned by the Soviet film administrations, both locally in Kyiv , Yerevan and federally in
3245-537: Was often forced to swallow small jewelry pieces and defecate them once authorities withdrew from their search. Parajanov attended a local railway college before running away to attend the Tbilisi State Conservatoire . He was later transferred to the Moscow Conservatory , where he studied alongside soprano Nina Dorliak . Parajanov left the conservatory to enroll at the directing department at what
3304-415: Was shot under relatively poor conditions and had a very small budget. Unlike Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Sayat Nova was not well received by Soviet authorities, who were quick to intervene and ban the film for its allegedly inflammatory content and lack of Socialist realism , Parajanov re-edited the film and renamed it The Color of Pomegranates . Since the early 1960's, Parajanov increasingly became
3363-484: Was then the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography ; he studied under the tutelage of directors Igor Savchenko and Alexander Dovzhenko . Parajanov was bisexual . In 1948, he was charged with illegal homosexual acts with MGB officer Nikolai Mikava in Tbilisi. He was sentenced to five years in prison and released under an amnesty after three months. In video interviews, friends and relatives contest
3422-453: Was transferred to Moscow in 1938. The exact number of Georgians executed during the Great Purges is not estimated, but some scholars suggest it varies from 30,000 to 60,000. During the purges, many eminent Georgian intellectuals such as Mikheil Javakhishvili , Evgeni Mikeladze , Vakhtang Kotetishvili , Paolo Iashvili , Titsian Tabidze and Dimitri Shevardnadze were executed or sent to
3481-488: Was unrecognized by the Soviet government and Georgia remained a part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in December 1991. Kangaroo court Kangaroo court is an informal pejorative term for a court that ignores recognized standards of law or justice, carries little or no official standing in the territory within which it resides, and is typically convened ad hoc . A kangaroo court may ignore due process and come to
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