#1336: PARAJANOV, Sergei: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)

PARAJANOV, Sergei (Ukraine)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors [1965]
Spine #1336
4K


A towering achievement of world cinema, Sergei Parajanov’s modernist landmark fuses folkloric traditions, animistic mysticism, and hallucinatory visual invention. Adapted from a 1911 novella by Ukrainian writer Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors follows Ivanko (Ivan Mykolaichuk), a young Hutsul peasant who experiences both the depths of grief and glimmers of hope as he attempts to move beyond his first love, Marichka (an ethereal Larysa Kadochnykova). Steeped in the earthy atmosphere of the Carpathian Mountains, and featuring kinetic, radiantly colorful cinematography by Yuri Illienko and a collagelike experimental soundtrack, Parajanov’s film is a singularly mythopoeic work of art.

96 minutes
Monaural
Color/Black and White
in Ukrainian
1:37:1
Criterion Release 2026

Director/Writer

Sergei Parajanov was 41 when he directed Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.
Screenplay by Parajanov and Ivan Chendej.
Based on the novel by Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi.

Other Parajanov films in the Collection:

#918: The Color of Pomegranates

The Film


The Extras

The Booklet

Commentary

Video tribute

Documentary 1

Documentary 2

Documentary 3

Controversial altered ending

Theatrical trailer


99

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