Sergei Parajanov: Centennial Celebration

https://bampfa.org/program/sergei-parajanov-centennial-celebration

November 1–22, 2024

The exceptional Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov (1924–1990) was born and lived a good portion of his life in Tbilisi, Georgia. He studied filmmaking in Moscow at VGIK, where one of his teachers and mentors was Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The initial part of his career was spent in Ukraine, where he made his first films, including the pivotal Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors and Kyiv Frescoes. From there he made a series of remarkable films: The Color of Pomegranates, The Legend of Suram Fortress, and Ashik Kerib. Shot on location in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, respectively, these films cemented his reputation as an artist who worked across transnational boundaries in his exploration of myth and cultural traditions. Parajanov’s films have been extremely influential, though he struggled against the Soviet authorities, who banned and censored the films. He was arrested multiple times and served prison time because of his subversive behavior and sexual orientation.

This centennial tribute offers viewers a chance to see Parajanov’s best-known features, plus several of his rarely shown short films. His powerful use of symbolism and metaphor creates extraordinary, indelible images, and his use of eclectic objects, color, and costumes is unique in both style and approach. Patrick Cazals’s documentaries Sergei Parajanov: The Rebel and The Muse and the Magician offer important insights into the artist’s biography and aesthetic approach. BAMPFA will hold a symposium, which is free and open to the public, on Saturday, November 2, bringing scholars and experts together to speak about Parajanov and his legacy.

—Susan Oxtoby, Director of Film and Senior Film Curator

Saturday, Nov 2, 2024

2:30—5:30 PM 
BAMPFA

https://bampfa.org/event/sergei-parajanov-symposium

In Conversation

• Myrna Douzjian teaches Armenian language and literature in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at UC Berkeley and is working on a study of interrelations between various storytelling forms and media in contemporary Armenia and Russia.
• Olga Kim teaches Russian and Eurasian film and literature at Williams College and is currently working on her book manuscript Cinema on the Edge: Late Soviet Tableau Aesthetics.
• Harsha Ram teaches in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at UC Berkeley and is currently completing a book on Russian-Georgian cultural relations titled The Geopoetics of Sovereignty: Literatures of the Russian-Georgian Encounter.
• James Steffen (PhD) is the Film and Media Studies Librarian and Head of the Humanities Team at the Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, and the author of The Cinema of Sergei Parajanov.
• Patrick Cazals is a filmmaker and writer who made Sergei Parajanov: The Rebel (2003), a study of Sergei Parajanov as a filmmaker, designer, and collage artist. He also made The Muse and the Magician (2024), a portrait of Parajanov’s muse, Georgian actor Sofiko Chiaureli. Both films screen at BAMPFA on Sunday, November 3. 

Five experts join BAMPFA’s Sergei Parajanov Centennial Celebration to discuss the filmmaker’s multifaceted legacy. Their presentations explore the twofold uniqueness of Parajanov’s filmmaking. Formally, his cinema was in constant dialogue with other media, from painting and the plastic arts to literature. Thematically, his cinema returned insistently yet playfully to the rich cultural legacies of the Soviet republics—above all, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan—at a time when explorations of ethnicity and national identity were officially permitted but also fiercely contested. James Steffen analyzes Parajanov’s tableau aesthetic for its inherent cinematic possibilities and for its figurations of time and history from the perspective of the Soviet periphery. Olga Kim discusses the aesthetic principles Parajanov’s films have in common with the other plastic arts he practiced, from sketches to collages and assemblages. Harsha Ram traces the symbolic and ideological valencies of the legend of Surami in its transmedial journey from folklore to literature to Parajanov’s cinema.

Chair: Myrna Douzjian 

2:30 PM
James Steffen — Sergei Parajanov as a Transmedia Artist

3:15 PM    
Olga Kim — Parajanov’s Cinema on the Edge: Figures of History in Tableau Aesthetics

4:00 PM   
Break

4:10 PM    
Harsha Ram — Sovereignty and Sacrifice: The Legend of Surami Fortress between Folklore, Literature, and Cinema

4:45 PM    
Roundtable with Speakers

Cosponsored by BAMPFA; the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES); the Berkeley Armenian Studies Program; and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Akhtamar Quartet
Sat, Nov 2, 3:30 pm
Community Church of Sebastopol
1000 Gravenstein Hwy N.
Sebastopol, CA 95472

Information/Tickets: redwoodarts.org
$5.00 Discount for Adult Tickets with Promo Code: deuk2024
Discount only available online

Akhtamar Quartet +1 (Brussels)

With Special Guest: Arnaud Ghillebaert, Viola

Sat, Nov 2, 2024, 3:30pm (twilight at 6:36pm)
Community Church of Sebastopol

Coline Alecian | Jennifer Pio | Cléo Dahan | Cyril Simon

The Akhtamar Quartet’s technical prowess is truly exceptional; each player exhibits an impressive command over their instrument, seamlessly intertwining precision with expressive depth. Their interpretations of classical repertoire are both insightful and original, breathing new life into familiar works while honoring their historical context. The synergy among the quartet members is palpable. Their harmonious interplay and mutual understanding create an intimate atmosphere, as if they are having a conversation through their music, “The Akhtamar Quartet plays both sides of this music: the sonorous, sensual sound and the highly original thematic structure, which has never before been heard with such effortless, self-evident conciseness. It is truly impressive how the ensemble shapes the melodic contour of the work, articulating it with eloquence and exploring its emotional depths.” – Fono Forum, 15 August, 2023, (DE)

Formed in Brussels in 2014, the ensemble was one of six quartets selected for the “Tremplins Jeunes Quatuors” of the Paris’ Philharmonie in 2016, and in the same year won the second prize in the Musiq’3 Festival. Akhtamar is an Armenian legend. The name of the quartet is a reference to the Armenian Miniatures Suite by Komitas, which the ensemble has performed with passion since its inception.

– Komitas, Armenian Folk Miniatures Suite
– Dvořák, String Quartet No. 13, Op. 106
– Bruckner, String Quintet in F Major, WAB 112, Special Guest: Arnaud Ghillebaert – Viola

 

Golden Classics: A Night of Operettas and Timeless Musicals  

Saturday, November 9, at 6 PMPlace: St. Andrew Armenian Church, Cupertino

St. Andrew Cultural Organization presents a classical vocal music concert with piano and violin. Amazing soprano Diana Skavronskaya (dianaskavronskaya.com), talented pianist Mariam Abgarian (www.mariamabgarian.com), and special guest violinist from New York Nune Melik (nunemelik.com) will take you on a journey through the finest classical masterpieces, creating an evening of elegance, passion, and unforgettable music. 🎶

𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬: https://conrogo.com/e/Golden-Classics-11092024-St-Andrew-Cultural-Organization-307c9e23?fbclid=IwY2xjawFwVJxleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSPigeLsK5efQkEOllrAobgHbVeTAtrjv1CQFGdA8w8mhAvvxHMIin1I-w_aem_ws1VxL2iy66FC-hSxmlgvQ

𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐦𝐨: @StAndrewArmenianChurch

From Paris to Yerevan: Communist Armenian Women and the Post-WWII Soviet Repatriation Campaign

Dr. Lerna Ekmekcioglu

4 p.m. 
3335 Dwinelle Hall, South Dr, Berkeley, CA 94720 

Armenian women participated in the French Resistance against the Nazis during WWII. Many of these women were former Ottoman subjects and some were survivors of the Armenian Genocide or their daughters. In 1942, they founded the Union des femmes arméniennes in Paris, which remained an underground organization until liberation. After the war’s conclusion and in response to Stalin-approved repatriation campaigns in Soviet Armenia, the Union promoted the communist fatherland as a feminist heaven. In a way, then, the fatherland was the true motherland. This paper delves into the hitherto unknown history of Armenian working-class women’s political subjectivities in postwar Europe.

Speaker’s Bio:

Lerna Ekmekcioglu is McMillan-Stewart Associate Professor of History and the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at MIT. Her first monograph, Recovering Armenia: The Limits of Belonging in Post-Genocide Turkey,came out from Stanford University Press in 2016. Dr. Ekmekcioglu has published articles on various topics, including Armenian demands at the 1923 Lausanne Conference, an Armenian woman’s memoirs about her years at Constantinople’s Central Prison during WWI, and French Armenian communist women’s organizing in post-war Paris for repatriation to Soviet Armenia. Currently, Dr. Ekmekcioglu is co-authoring a book and digital humanities project titled Feminism in Armenian: An Interpretive Anthology and Documentary Archive (IUP Ottomanica, 2025).Contact Info:

Dzovinar Derderian, armenian@berkeley.edu

Save the dates for the Golden Gate Armenian Film Festival to take place on November 15-17th at “Vogue” movie theatre in San Francisco. The three day program includes the most recent Armenian films from 2023-2024.

Special guest for this year’s festival will be Director Edgar Baghdasaryan from Armenia. After showing his film “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev” which is Armenia’s official submission for the Academy Awards 2025, there will be a Live Q/A with him.

Program of screenings is available here: ggaff.art

FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071632466645…

We are pleased to introduce the program of screenings for the First Edition of Golden Gate Armenian Film Festival, November 15-17th held at “Vogue” movie theatre in San Francisco.

November 15th:

1:30pm: “Yeva”(2017),

Dir. Anahid Abad

4:30pm: “Missak et Meline Manouchian” (2024)

Dir. Katia Guiragossian

7:30pm: “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev” (2024)

Dir. Edgar Baghdasaryan (Live Q/A)

November 16th:

1:30pm: “Should the wind drop” (2020)

Dir. Nora Martirosyan

4:30pm: “There was, There was not” (2024)

Dir. Emily Mkrtichian

7:30pm: “Luka” (2023)

Dir. Jessica Woodworth (Anzhela Frangyan, Producer)

November 17th:

1:30pm: “Tonratun” (2023)

Dir. Inna Mkhitaryan

4:30pm: “Aurora’s Sunrise” (2022)

Dir. Inna Sahakyan

7:30pm: “1489” (2023)

Dir. Shoghakat Vardanyan

Ticket information will be available soon.

More information, official trailers, synopsizes and interviews with film directors on GGAFF fb page: https://www.facebook.com/p/Golden-Gate-Armenian-Film-Festival-100071632466645/

Dec 15, 2024, 3pm 

Hertz Hall

Asmik Grigorian, soprano; Lukas Geniušas, piano

Tickets start at $78

Lest there be any doubt that Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian is among the most electrifying performers of her generation, the Guardian has compared her voice to “velvet-wrapped steel” and Classical Source has described “words pouring from her like streams of molten lava.” Having sung lead roles in Madama Butterfly, Jenůfa, and Salome to great acclaim in recent seasons, Grigorian makes a rare US visit in an all-Russian-language Cal Performances debut recital, performing rarely heard songs—“small pieces of opera in a few minutes,” she calls them—by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. She is joined by frequent collaborator, pianist Lukas Geniušas.This performance is made possible, in part, by S. Shariq Yosufzai and Brian James.

Our upper-floor, northwest gallery exhibit, Armenian Needlelace: Poetry in Thread, is now open for tours by appointment. Tours with curator Elise Youssoufian are conducted Monday, Friday, and some Saturdays.
     Our permanent collection is home to thousands of precious textile works of art, but perhaps most remarkable and splendid of them all are the many delicate Armenian needlelace circles. We invite you to join us in celebrating their makers’ immense skill and handiwork, their exuberant creativity, and their exceptional persistence.

Beginning August 16th, exhibit tours will be available most Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 1pm or 3pm, by appointment. All Lacis exhibit tours are free for museum members with up to four guests; otherwise, they are $3 per person. To book a tour, please call Lacis at 510.843.7290 or email info@lacismuseum.org.

Opening night is on August 9, 2024 from 6-8 pm.

You must make an appointment to visit the exhibit after August 9, Tour appointment Call (510-843-7290)

Hamazkayin SF Nigol Aghpalian chapter is proud to sponsor this beautiful event.

https://lacismuseum.org/exhibits.html