Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

One of the most beloved Soviet-era films, winner of multiple international awards, Sergei Parajanov’s visionary feature from 1965 summons a world of psychedelic folklore and ritual with bracing originality. Set in a remote village in the Carpathian Mountains, the story follows Ivan (Ivan Mykolaichuk) and Marichka (Larisa Kadochnikova), star-crossed lovers whose families are embroiled in a blood feud. When Ivan marries another woman but continues to pine for Marichka, his wife solicits the aid of a sorcerer to win him back, setting off a flurry of both natural and seemingly supernatural forces. Parajanov, aided by his brilliant cinematographers Yuri Illienko and Viktor Bestayev, creates a delirious, magically charged atmosphere that fully captures the sense of a folk legend brought to shimmering life; its multilayered imagery, free spirited camerawork, set design, and soundtrack straddles the line between ethnography and surrealism, and the result is simply a sensuous tour de force. Despite its international acclaim, the film ran afoul of the Soviet authorities, who mistrusted what they saw as its celebration of a unique Ukrainian culture. A Janus Films release.

Special thanks to our Community Partner, the Armenian Film Society

Restored in 4K by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre and in association with the Dovzhenko Film Studio. Special thanks to Daniel Bird and Łukasz Ceranka. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.