Epress.am News from Armenia
The start of a number of events organized by the Ministry of Culture of Georgia was marked by the erection of Parajanov’s monument in Tbilisi. Admirers of Parajanov’s art put pomegranates instead of flowers on the monument to demonstrate their love and respect for his art and as a symbol of his “Color of Pomegranate” film.
The participants of the events noted that there should be a street named after Parajanov in Tbilisi as he “was a real Tbilisian”.
An exhibition of Parajanov’s pictures, collages, photos and a screening of his films were organized within the framework of the cultural events.
Although he started professional film-making in 1954, Parajanov later disowned all of his pre-1964 works as "garbage". After directing Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (renamed Wild Horses of Fire for most foreign distributions) Parajanov had become something of an international celebrity and simultaneously a target of attacks from the system. Nearly all of his film projects and plans from 1965-1973 were banned, scrapped or closed by the Soviet film administration, both local (in Kiev and Yerevan) and federal (infamous Goskino), almost without discussion until he was finally arrested in late 1973 on trumped-up charges of rape, homosexuality and bribery. Parajanov was imprisoned until 1977, despite a plethora of pleas for pardon from various esteemed artists.
Even after his release (he would be arrested for the third and last time in 1982) he was a persona non grata in Soviet cinema. It was not until the mid-1980s, when the political climate started to relax, that he could resume directing.