Perspective Film Series: The Color of Pomegranates (1969)

Perspective Film Series:

The Color of Pomegranates (1969), dir. Sergei Parajanov

September 29 | 5:30 PM

1969 | Soviet Union | 78 mins

Part ethnography, part visual essay, Sergei Parajanov’s The Color of Pomegranates celebrates Armenian culture through the story of the 18-century troubadour Sayat-Nova, tracing his intellectual, artistic, and spiritual growth through iconographic compositions. The film’s tapestry of folklore and metaphor is a departure from the realism that dominated the Soviet cinema of its era, leading authorities to block its distribution, with rare underground screenings presenting it in a restructured form. At its core, The Color of Pomegranates tells the story of the survival of Armenian culture and people in face of oppression, persecution, and genocide.

This film is Armenian with English subtitles.

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The 2024 edition of Perspective is curated by Muriel N. Kahwagi, Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary. The series will feature monthly screenings that amplify voices from the Global South, deconstructing broader moving-image practices through an anti-colonial framework. In particular, this year's Perspective will focus on filmic works from the Caucasus, as well as Southwest Asia and North Africa, a region that continues to grapple with the enduring legacies of colonial violence.