Mikhail Vartanov

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Mikhail Vartanov Михаил Вартанов Միքայել Վարդանով
Born	February 21, 1937(1937-02-21) Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (now Russian Federation), USSR
Occupation	Director, cinematographer, screenwriter, art critic
Official website

Mikhail Vartanov (Russian: Михаил Вартанов, Armenian: Միխայիլ Վարդանով, Armenian: Միքայել Վարդանով, French: Mikhaïl Vartanov b. February 21, 1937, RSFSR, Soviet Union, now Russian Federation) is a Russo-Armenian film director and writer.

Vartanov graduated from the Russian state film school VGIK in 1966. He began his documentary oeuvre with the wordless The Color of Armenian Land (1969), featuring the world famous behind-the-scenes episodes of Sergei Parajanov's landmark The Color of Pomegranates (originally released under the title Sayat Nova in 1968). Vartanov's correspondence with the imprisoned Parajanov and his outspoken criticism of Armenia's corrupt film industry resulted in his being blacklisted shortly thereafter. Vartanov's films and screenplays were suppressed, unmentioned by the press, and blocked from submission to foreign film festivals. In those years, Vartanov exquisitely lensed Artavazd Peleshian's classic Seasons of the Year (1975) and Gennadi Melkonian's hit The Mulberry Tree (1979).

In the 1980s, Vartanov's writings were translated into several languages and published worldwide including the prestigious Cahiers du Cinéma in Paris. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vartanov directed the trilogy Erased Faces (1987), Minas: A Requiem (1989) and his masterpiece Parajanov: The Last Spring (1992). In the following decade, Vartanov conducted film and photo experiments in his Hollywood apartment, which can be seen in Erased Faces II by Martin Vartanov, with whom he is producing Evrika, a film based on the method they call "direction of undirected action." Vartanov's films produced from 1960s to 1989 have not been shown to the general public and still remain in Armenian archives still under the control of his suppressors and their often unsuspecting or indifferent sympathizers.

[edit] Filmography

Year	English title	Original title	Romanization	Notes
1968	The Color of Armenian Land	(Russian) Цвет Армянской Земли	Tsvet armyanskoy zemli	Banned debut film. Behind the scenes of Sergei Paradjanov's Color of Pomegrantes.
1971	Autumn Pastoral	(Russian) Осенчяя пастораль	Osenn'yaya pastoral'	Written by Artavazd Peleshian. Shelved.
1972	And So Every Day	(Russian) И так каждый день	I tak kazhdiy dyen'	Scored by Tigran Mansurian. Vartanov narrates for the first time. Black & white. Shelved.
1974	Kadjaran	(Russian) Каджаран	Kajaran'	Unfinished. Vartanov fired.
1975 (cinematograper)	Seasons of the Year	(Russian) Bремена Года	Vremena Goda'	Directed by Artavazd Peleshian, lensed by Vartanov.
1979 (cinematographer)	The Mulberry Tree	(Russian) Шелковица	Shelkovitsa'	Directed by Gennadi Melkonian, lensed by Vartanov.
1984	Roots	(Russian) Корни	Korni'	First directing work in 10 years. A project deemed unfilmable by all filmmakers at Armenfilm (Armenia)
1987	Erased Faces	(Armenian) Ջնջվաց դեմքեր	Jenjevatz demker'	Documentary trilogy, part I.
1989	Minas: A Requiem	(Armenian) Մինաս. ռեկվիէմ	Minas. rekviem'	Documentary trilogy, part II
1992	Paradjanov: The Last Spring	(English) Parajanov: The Confession		Documentary trilogy, part III