Parajanov: The Last Spring Filming Locations
Parajanov: The Last Spring Filming Locations
Armenia is a nation, and former Soviet republic, in the mountainous Caucasus region between Asia and Europe. Among the earliest Christian civilizations, it’s defined by religious sites including the Greco-Roman Temple of Garni and 4th-century Etchmiadzin Cathedral, headquarters of the Armenian Church. Khor Virap Monastery is a pilgrimage site near Mount Ararat, a dormant volcano just across the border in Turkey.
Kyiv is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2,952,301, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyiv is an important industrial, scientific, educational, and cultural center in Eastern Europe.
Moscow, on the Moskva River in western Russia, is the nation’s cosmopolitan capital. In its historic core is the Kremlin, a complex that’s home to the president and tsarist treasures in the Armoury. Outside its walls is Red Square, Russia's symbolic center. It's home to Lenin’s Mausoleum, the State Historical Museum's comprehensive collection and St. Basil’s Cathedral, known for its colorful, onion-shaped domes.
Tbilisi is the capital of the country of Georgia. Its cobblestoned old town reflects a long, complicated history, with periods under Persian and Russian rule. Its diverse architecture encompasses Eastern Orthodox churches, ornate art nouveau buildings and Soviet Modernist structures. Looming over it all are Narikala, a reconstructed 4th-century fortress, and Kartlis Deda, an iconic statue of the “Mother of Georgia.”
Yerevan, Armenia's capital, is marked by grand Soviet-era architecture. The Matenadaran library, housing thousands of ancient Greek and Armenian manuscripts, dominates its main avenue. Republic Square is the city's core, with musical water fountains and colonnaded government buildings. The 1920s History Museum of Armenia on the square's eastern side contains archaeological objects like a circa-3500-B.C. leather shoe.
Parajanov: The Last Spring (1992)
Filmed in wartime and edited under candlelight, Mikhail Vartanov's rarely-seen masterwork tells of his friendship with the genius Sergei Parajanov who was arrested by KGB, at the height of his fame, for the outspoken criticism of the Soviet regime. Vartanov resurrects the riveting scenes from his banned 1969 film, The Color of Armenian Land, where Paradjanov concocts the chef-d'oeuvre Sayat Nova (The Color of Pomegranates) - widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time - then reveals a shocking secret request Parajanov sent him in an unpublished 1974 letter from the Ukrainian prisons. Vartanov's camera documents Parajanov's staggering last day at work in 1990 during the making of the unfinished Confession - the original camera negative of which survives in Parajanov: The Last Spring (1992) - as Parajanov comments on this cherished autobiographical film. The foremost achievement of The Last Spring, emphasized by the American and European 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.
