Trivia

One of his favorite filmmakers was Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Best friend of documentary filmmaker Mikhail Vartanov whom he considered to be the only authentic expert of his art and who was one of only a handful of Parajanov's (many) friends to passionately campaign for his release from the Soviet GULAG - their brave prison correspondence later became a chapter of Parajanov: The Last Spring (1992).

In 1999, Sergei Parajanov was included in the list of the UNESCO jubilees (his 75 anniversary). In 2007, he was included into the 501 Greatest Movie Directors book. In 2009, he was included into the Wild Bunch of 50 Directors with Federico Fellini and David Lynch by Sight and Sound.

Director Sergei Parajanov was Armenian.

Pictured on a postage stamp in Armenia (April 1999).

Parajanov's restored The Color of Pomegranates (1969) world premiered the 67th Cannes Film Festival in May 2014, and at the 28th Il Cinema Ritrovato Film Festival with Parajanov: The Last Spring (1992) in June. Its North American premiere was at the 39th Toronto Film Festival, and the US premiere was at The Academy at LACMA series in September. In October, Martin Scorsese accepted the 2014 Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award on behalf of his foundation for the restoration of The Color of Pomegranates (1969) and introduced the masterpiece at the 52nd New York Film Festival (NYFF first screened it 34 years earlier, and hosted Paradjanov in 1988).

Pictured on a postage stamp in Ukraine (February 1999).

His films Ashik Kerib and Legend of Suram Fortress credit Dodo Abashidze as co-director. While the latter was instrumental in getting the films "green-lighted," he had done virtually no direction in either film. Abashidze also shared several awards with Sergei Parajanov for the above films. Parajanov also gave credit to 3 individuals for production design in Ashik Kerib and they, not Parajanov, received European Academy Awards.

His parents, Iosif and Siran, were antique dealers in Tbilisi.

Won the British Academy Award for Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) and the European Academy Award for Ashik Kerib (1988).

2003 - 2010: Retrospectives in Berlin, Seoul, Uherske Hradiste, Singapore, Moscow, Yerevan, Hollywood, Wroclaw, Paris, Los Angeles, Potenza, St. Petersburg, London, Ljubljana.