Bristol Tbilisi Association

The Bristol Tbilisi Association has just completed a successful partnership with the Arnolfini and the Bristol Gallery bringing the works of the great film director Sergei Paradjanov to the people of Bristol. Following a successful festival of his work at the National Theatre in London, the Arnolfini showed his four most significant films during the first two weeks of April. Complementing these was a photo exhibition at the Bristol Gallery showing pictures of Paradjanov taken by photographer and friend, Yuri Metchitov.

Paradjanov was a Georgian of Armenian decent who was persecuted by the Soviet State for refusing to produce state supported propaganda films. Instead he drew on his love of the region, its myths and legends, to create another way of viewing the world.

The BTA was privileged to host Levon Grigoryan, filmmaker and author and Paradjanov's assistant on the film "Colour of Pomegranates" and Cora Tsereteli, film historian, author and Paradjanov's friend. They gave presentations at two of his films, giving us an insight into how truly radical Paradjanov's work was when it first came out in the 1960s and what it was like to work with a man of such genius.