A Century of Armenian Cinema at AGBU VTM

One of the greatest masters of cinema, Sergei Parajanov was born in Tiflis (Tbilisi), Republic of Georgia, USSR, to an ethnic Armenian family. In 1945 Parajanov traveled to Moscow and entered the directing department at VGIK, one of the oldest and most highly respected film schools in Europe and studied under director Igor Savchenko and later Aleksandr Dovzhenko in Kiev, Ukraine. Parajanov moved to Kiev, where after a few documentaries and several narrative films, created the magnificent "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors", which won countless international awards, including the British Academy Award. However, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" didn't conform to the standards of Soviet cinema and his next film "Kyiv Frescoes" was shut down. He then left for Armenia to film the documentary Hakob Hovnatanyan (1967), and then in 1968 created his masterpiece "Sayat Nova". "Sayat Nova" was banned by Soviet authorities, re-edited and re-named "The Color of Pomegranates". In December of 1973, the Soviet government arrested Parajanov and sentenced him to five years in hard labor camps. A large group of world-famous artists, filmmakers and activists protested and Parajanov was released, but only after having served four horrific years in the Soviet penal system. Parajanov returned to Tbilisi, but the regime continued to keep him away from cinema. During and after prison, Paradjanov created extraordinary collages, drawings, and numerous other art works, now frequently exhibited worldwide. In 1984, however, as political conditions started to change and, with the help of Georgian intellectuals, the government allowed Parajanov to create the multi-award winning The Legend of Suram Fortress (1985), 15 long years after "Sayat Nova". In 1986 Parajanov made yet another multi-award-winning film, Ashik Kerib (1988), based on a tale by Mikhail Lermontov, and dedicated the film to his friend Andrei Tarkovsky. His stay in prison had crushed his health, however, and he passed away in July of 1990, leaving his final masterpiece "The Confession" unfinished. It survives in its original negative in Parajanov: The Last Spring (1992) by his closest friend, Mikhail Vartanov. Credit: Parajanov-Vartanov Institute https://parajanov.com/

A pioneer of cinema in Armenia and the Caucasus, Hamo Beknazarian began his career as a professional athlete. However, he later discovered film, joined the cinema as an actor in 1914, and soon became one of the major stars in the pre-Soviet Russian cinema. In 1918, he graduated from the Moscow Commercial Institute. In 1921, he became the head of the film section of Narkompros in Georgia and later a director of Goskinprom in Georgia. Like his friend and colleague, the Georgian cinema pioneer Ivane Perestiani, Beknazarian sought to incorporate avant-garde techniques popular in NEP-era Soviet films into conventional narrative frameworks. In 1924, he returned to his native city of Yerevan where he became one of the founders of Armenkino (the predecessor to Armenfilm). He directed the first full-length Armenian feature film, Honor (1925), in collaboration with Sakhkinmretsvi in Georgia. He also directed the romantic film Natela (1926) with the glamorous Nato Vachnadze that same year and, the following year, he directed the first Kurdish film, Zare (1927). In the 1930s, he directed the first Armenian sound film, Pepo (1935), based on a play by Gabriel Sundukyan and with music by the renown Armenian composer Aram Khachaturyan. For this production, he earned the title People's Artist of the Armenian SSR. Following World War II, he directed the film Erkrord karavan (1950) about the repatriation of Armenians living in the United States to Soviet Armenia. This production was canceled by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, a move that personally hurt Beknazarian. Following this, he did not direct any more films until after the death of Stalin in 1953. After Beknazarian's death in 1965, Armenfilm adopted his name to their full, official title in his honor. Today, he is widely regarded as the founder of Armenian cinema. Credit: IMBD https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0067384

Artyom Manukyan is a genre-defying cellist who made a name for himself as the youngest member of the BBC World Music Award-winning Armenian Navy Band. His approach to playing the cello like a bass emerged from a combination of his conservatory training and exposure to the music of hallmark jazz bassists including Jaco Pastorius and Marcus Miller. Currently living in Los Angeles, Artyom is equally at home on the stages of jazz clubs, concert halls and rock festivals, performing with major international artists including Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-D.M.C., Grammy-winning Latin alternative rocker Draco Rosa, and Natasha Bedingfield, among others. In his free time, Artyom teaches private lessons and has been an invited guest teacher at the world-renowned Tumo Center for Creative Technologies.