Knight of Freedom and Beauty

ArmInfo. Parajanov is neither a movie, nor collages, nor an installation, nor is it an assemblage. This is, first of all, the freedom and beauty of the mind and the one who manages to recognize it, hear and see it, is doomed to follow the path of beauty; there is no other way.

And today marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. Probably, the  phenomenon of Parajanov is that even after a century new aspects of  his personality are revealed to us, we hear new stories about him,  about his actions, his virtues. It's as if he continues to live,  surprise and play his game with us, the rules of which are known only  to him. In addition, Parajanov continues to enrich world culture,  because today numerous works of art are created, inspired by the  beauty of his vision and thought.

Parajanov's 100th birthday is celebrated today not only in Armenia,  but also in Georgia, where he was born and raised, and in Ukraine,  where he established himself as a film director.

In Yerevan, the day was marked by the opening of a metal monument to  Sergei Parajanov by sculptor Ara Alekyan. As stated, the statue will  decorate the area adjacent to the planned "Avenue of Stars", which  will be located near the House of Cinema building. The square will be  named after Sergei Parajanov's film "The Color of Pomegranates"  (1968, "Armenfilm" film studio, ed. note).

In the meantime, Alekyan's work is in the House of Cinema.  Parajanov's close friend, photographer Yuri Mechitov, arriving from  Tbilisi to Yerevan for the occasion, noted that the monument reflects  the madness of the Maestro, which "is very difficult for the  'officials' to accept, very difficult for 'people who wear ties' to  accept."

"Well, this was a different type of personality, outside the law,  outside the order, outside the framework. And I believe that he  deserved the memory, the name, and I think that the most important  thing that he wanted to convey to humanity was the idea of being  free. Do you understand what this is? It's not just going crazy. This  needs to be truly understood, he had only beauty and freedom - which  he somehow connected, but how he do that- I don't know. You have to  be able to do this, you have to be Parajanov," said the photographer.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Parajanov, an exhibition  of works by David Galstyan "La Gioconda. Transformation" was opened  at the House of Cinema", which will run until January 16. Galstyan's  works are inspired by Parajanov's series of collages, "Several  Episodes from the Gioconda's Life" and were created using artificial  intelligence.

On the occasion of Sergey Parajanov's birthday, events will be held  throughout the year in Yerevan, in the regions of the republic, as  well as abroad in France, Georgia, Ukraine.

It should also be noted that the famous Armenian artists, Charles  Aznavour and Valentin Podpomogov, also turn 100 years old this  year.