British label Second Sight Films has detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of director Sergei Parajanov's classic film
The Color of Pomegranates (1967), starring Sofiko Chiaureli, Melkon Alekyan, and Vilen Galstyan. The release will be available for purchase on November 20.
The Color of Pomegranates was recently restored in 4K by L'immagine Ritrovata, with funding provided by the Film Foundation-World Cinema Project (New York). The restoration was presented in the
Classics section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2014.
Synopsis: Sergei Paradjanov's celebrated, dreamlike masterpiece paints an astonishing portrait of the 18th century Armenian poet Sayat Nova, the 'King of Song'. Paradjanov's aim was not a conventional biography but a cinematic expression of his work, resulting in an extraordinary visual poem. Key moments in his subject's life are illustrated through a series of exquisitely orchestrated tableaux filled with rich colour and stunning iconography, each scene a celluloid painting alive with sylised movement.
One of cinema's most revered and beautiful films,
The Color of Pomegranates is a unique and rewarding experience that haunts the memory long after viewing.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- The Film Foundation restoration of director Parajanov's Armenian Cut of the film
- Feature-length subtitle commentary by James Steffen, author of The Cinema of Sergei Parajanov, and adviser on the new Film Foundation restoration
- Kiev Frescoes - Parajanov short film, restored and available for the first time
- Kiev Frescoes - audio commentary by Daniel Bird, adviser on the new Film Foundation restoration
- Pomegranates Rediscovered - Cecilia Cenciarelli of Cineteca di Bologna on the multi-national effort to save The Color of Pomegranates
- Free Parajanov! - featurette on Parajanov's imprisonment
- Poetry, Pomegranates and Parajanov - new appreciation of the film by Daniel Bird
- The World is a Window - the Making of the Color of Pomegranates (now with removable subtitles)
- 100-page illustrated soft-cover book
- Packaging description: Limited Edition Blu-ray box set packed in rigid slipcase