Parajanov included in longlist for 2014 foreign language film Oscar

YEREVAN, October 8. / ARKA /. A biopic on Soviet-era director Sergei Parajanov was included in the long list for the Academy Award in the foreign language film category. 

Paradjanov, directed by first-time feature directors Olena Fetisova (Ukraine) and Serge Avedikian (France), who also stars as the renowned director, was made as a co-production between Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia – the three countries in which Parajanov worked – and France.

Parajanov, an ethnic Armenian born and raised in Georgia, came to prominence with his 1965 historic drama Tini zabutykh predkiv (Shadows of the Forgotten Ancestors), which collected the Critics Grand Prize and the Special Jury Award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival and was released in more than a dozen countries.

However, despite the international success, Parajanov was soon banned from filmmaking by Soviet ideologues and later thrown into prison on what were widely believed to be fabricated charges.

After being released, he made three more features, The Legend of the Suram Fortress and Ashug-Kerib and died in 1990.

The Academy’s  longlist for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar includes  76 films. The number, up from 71 films last year, sets a new record for the category and includes frontrunners such as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past from Iran, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt from Denmark, and Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster from Hong Kong. Russia’s Fyodor Bondarchuk-helmed World War II action-drama Stalingrad also made it to the longlist. .-0-