Paradjanov: The Color of Armenian Land

The 16-minute documentary Tsvet armyanskoy zemli (1969) was shown in the U.S. with the translated title The Color of Armenian Land. The movie was directed by Mikhail Vartanov.

The film has no dialect. We see scenes of the rugged Armenian landscape, as well as the work of Armenian artists, both ancient and contemporary. Among the contemporary artists there's a brief clip of Sergei Parajanov directing The Color of Pomegranates. Because Parajanov was in disfavor with the Soviet authorities, this brief clip was enough to cause the entire film to be blacklisted for 43 years--until 2012.

Director Vartanov was a close friend of Parajanov, and he tried to get Parajanov out of prison. This was enough to have him blacklisted for many years.

We saw this movie as a Criterion Collection extra for Parjanov's masterpiece, The Color of Pomegranates. Howerver, the film will stand on its own, although it will be more meaningful if it's understood in context. The IMDb rating for this movie is an anemic 6.6. I thought it was much better than that, and rated it 9.