SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS

(1966) dir. Sergei Parajanov; 97min.

FRIDAY, February 25th at 7 & 9:30pm

SATURDAY, February 26th at 7 & 9:30pm

SUNDAY, February 27th at 3pm

Legends, sorcery, magic, folklore, and breathtaking landscapes--no, this isn’t the new Peter Jackson/Tolkien installment—these are the many elements that make up Sergei Parajanov’s 1964 masterpiece Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. Set in the Carpathian Mountains, Parajanov’s film is a tale of love and betrayal that captures the mystery of the environment that it’s surrounded by. Aesthetically, the film’s vivid and colorful milieu is on par with that of Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain, and has a psychedelic tinge that would flavor his later films as well. Although a part of the Soviet film machine, Parajanov’s films set him apart, and gave him a unique place in the world of cold-war cinema. And like many a novel by Thomas Hardy, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors has a fatalistic quality that speaks to a time and place where land, tradition, and belief carve out the people’s destinies before them.