Off-site: Ashik Kerib

Tickets will be available through the American Cinematheque website(opens in a new tab).

Confession

Armenia, 1990

Surviving footage from Parajanov’s autobiographical, final film, shot silently.

DCP, color, no dialogue. 12 min. Director: Sergei Parajanov.

Ashik Kerib

Georgia, 1988

Sergei Parajanov’s final feature proves what a consistent visionary he was from Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors onwards. A Turkish fairy tale set in Azerbaijan and once again. Ashik Kerib interprets a legend of a Muslim minstrel wandering 1,000 days to win the hand of his beloved. The poet’s journey is illustrated with Parajanov’s signature Transcaucasian exuberance: calligraphy, flying carpets, inlaid woodwork and Persian iconography all make appearances. Playfully scored in an eclectic mix of styles, even electronic music, Ashik Kerib is Parajanov’s tenderest film. The director even joked to Film Comment around the film’s release, “It ends like an American movie!” Dedicated to the memory of Andrei Takovsky, Ashik Kerib proved to be Parajanov’s own swan song. He died of cancer two years after its release, he was 66 years old.

DCP, color, in Azerbaijani with English subtitles, 78 min. Directors: Sergei Parajanov, David (Dodo) Abashidze. Screenwriter: Gia Badridze. With: Yuri Mgoian, Sofiko Chiaureli, David (Dodo) Abashidze.