Film

Parajanov: The Last Spring

1992 · 1h · Documentary

"Exemplifies the power of art" —Francis Ford Coppola

IMDb

7.1

Made in wartime and edited in candlelight, Vartanov's rarely-seen masterpiece tells about his friendship with the genius Parajanov who was imprisoned by KGB "at the height of his fame ". Vartanov resurrects the riveting scenes from his banned 1969 film The Color of Armenian Land, where Paradjanov concocts the chef-d'oeuvre The Color of Pomegranates - widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time - then reveals the shocking request Parajanov sent him in unpublished 1974 letters from Ukrainian prisons. Vartanov's camera documents Parajanov's staggering last day at work in 1990 during the making of the unfinished Confession - which survives in The Last Spring - as Parajanov comments on this cherished autobiographical film. The foremost achievement of The Last Spring, emphasized by critics, is Vartanov's exquisite wordless montage that "evoked the very soul" of Parajanov and earned the praise of many of cinema's greatest masters, such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

Sergei Parajanov

Himself

Mikhail Vartanov

Himself

Sofiko Chiaureli

Mother in 'The Confession'

Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy

Himself, Tarkovsky's actor

Svetlana Shcherbatyuk

Herself

Suren Parajanov

Himself

• Sergei ParajanovDirector · Screenplay
• Mikhail VartanovDirector · Screenplay · Director of Photography
• Martiros VartanovScreenplay

Release date

December 30, 1992

Status

Released

Original language

Russian

Runtime

1h

Genres

Documentary