Serhii Parajanov flew over Lviv

The forum was called “Parajanov Festival in Levandivka.” For a week, one of Lviv’s neighborhoods was witnessing a second edition of an international scale act in which the great artist’s image brought together various arts and various people.

WHAT’S IN A FESTIVAL?

Levandivka is a place where older houses prevail. There is also an old movie theater with a purely Soviet-style name Suputnyk (i.e. sputnik), which a handful of enthusiasts led by Oleksandr Ahashkov and Mykhailo Sevriuk have turned into quite an up-to-date center of culture and arts – and decided to keep the name. Indeed, it has something to do with space and related matters. For instance, a flight with a hot air balloon was one of the attractions awaiting the participants. Moreover, in this area there used to be a Polish airfield, and the name of the street where Suputnyk stands is a reminder of its past: Povitriana (i.e. Air Street). The side streets around, too, have aviation-style names, and among them lies Parajanov Street.

The first thing I got to hear here was that Lviv was the first city, back in 1992, to name a street after the great film director. Here, in Levandivka. So, I set out to look for it. Locals were surprisingly well informed about its whereabouts. I must say it would be much harder to find a similar street in Kyiv. Still, frankly, it looks more like a lane some 250 meters long, and badly paved at that, of which I was immediately informed by a local lady. “To name a street in memory of such a man and not be able to repair the pavement – and they are calling themselves Europe!” fumed the lady. I asked her about the previous name of this street. “Why, Parajanov Street,” answered the lady confidently. “You must be new here, I reckon?” “Not at all, I’ve lived here for 40 years.” “Well, 40 years about Parajanov was an inmate in one or another prison camp, no one would even dream of naming a street after him.” As I was walking back, the lady informed me that before Parajanov this street was known as Palmova (Palm Street). Some palm trees, indeed.

Actually the only remarkable sight on Parajanov Street is a wooden stork on a trunk of a cut tree. Further there is nothing but ordinary cottages. The street name plates are all rusty and look ancient. No, it is definitely no Europe. So far. However, holding a Parajanov festival is quite a European sign. No inferiority complexes: we can and we do launch an event which has repercussions far beyond this neighborhood. Funding settled (the city council helped, and Iryna Shymon from the municipal department for culture became coordinator of the festival); guests invited; and off we go!

Photo replica by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day

Of course, several of Parajanov’s films were screened at the festival. I was asked to find out about the poetic aspect of the titles of those movies. First of all, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. The legendary movie awakens vivid interest; it is interesting both to watch and to think about. Once a critic wrote an article with a significant title “Archaists or Innovators?” The question was primarily meant for Parajanov. Indeed: it is permeated with the spirit of the past, and the material is almost prehistoric: Carpathian Hutsuls who found themselves in a sort of time-warp, lost in time and space and reluctant to join the contemporary civilization processes. At the same time there is the movie’s avant-garde poetics, defined simultaneously by directing, Yuri Illienko’s camera work, unsurpassable plasticity, exceptionally contemporary acting of Ivan Mykolaichuk, Larysa Kadochnykova, Tetiana Bestaieva, Mykola Hrynko, et al.

A DANGEROUSLY FREE MAN

One of the best pictures about Parajanov was screened, Roman Shyrman’s A Dangerously Free Man. The story of an artist is told by the artist self, who tended to create myths about himself with his own hands (or his own words). Indeed, most of what we know about Parajanov, we learned from no one other than himself. Humorous interpretation of mythological plots, a flair of carnivalesque and playful in almost all of the images produced by him: all of this is Parajanov, whose everyday behavior was focused on the creation of artistic images, big and small, which later came to be revealed in his movies and in his plastic works, first of all his collages.

Diana Klochko’s extremely interesting presentation “Why Parajanov Created His Assemblages?” analyses the peculiarity of creating free compositions by the artist who was able to combine the uncombinable. Even in harsh conditions of everyday life in the camp he remained amazingly free, both in his behavior and in his art. He would take any material (usually something that had already been ditched) and combine it with other.

At the end of Klochko’s presentation appeared film director Roman Balaian (his film Night at the Parajanov Museum was screened on the closing day of the festival). Balaian knew Parajanov quite well and now demonstrated that very Parajanov-style freedom of thinking and interpretation, of the artist’s behavior in fact. Those most anecdotic stories about Parajanov actually reveal the unity of all aspects of his life, which looks like a single artistic text. Parajanov did not create films or collages: this was his manner of living, to let his life assume the form of a sort of textual reality. What an interesting read it is! The Levandivka festival actually lets see Parajanov’s life as a whole, without it being divided into creation proper and the so called everyday routine, which is perceived as detached from creativity. Nope, everything is linked and everything is part of one big canvas. Just like that festival drum (one of the highlights): bang it to make your dreams come true.

A discussion themed “A Shadow of Freedom,” with the participation of Roman Balaian, Viktoria Danelian, Sarmen Beglarian, and Diana Klochko, summed up the major aspects of Parajanov’s work in the festival’s interpretation.

Besides, the festival also included a drama component. For instance, as part of the project “Night of the Theater,” Levandivka received nine alternative theater studios from across Ukraine. Every day a renowned director and educator Vitalii Liubota gave drama workshops for adults. Moreover, every evening there was the “Night of Theater.” And not to forget discussions about education practices in Ukraine and Armenia.

How is the festival going to develop further – and is it? I hope it is. Because it has a powerful creative component, it is made for people who are involved and immersed in the world of the great master, the world of great artistic ideas and techniques. It is so important, especially today when human mind is being attacked by loads of quasi-artistic rubbish that threatens to destroy living cultural instincts.