#Shadows of forgotten ancestors

[zurich-snows]

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964), dir. Sergei Parajanov

[cinematicjourney]

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) | dir. Sergei Parajanov

[certainwoman]

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964), dir. Sergei Parajanov

[alloydia]

[the-railroad-earth]

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Sergei Parajanov, 1965

[nk-salinger]

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors - 1965

[victusinveritas]

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) / Sergei Parajanov

[unhonestlymirror]

„Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors"

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

Arvydas Buinauskas designed outstanding scenography and light art for the premiere opera „Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors", transporting the performers to the postmodern world and emphasising a philosophical reconsideration of man's place in nature.

Creators:

Chief conductor – Yurii Bervetskyi

Conductor – Iryna Stasyshyn

Chief choreographer – Artem Shoshyn (Kyiv)

Chief choreographer assistant – Tetiana Kuruohlu (Kyiv)

Choreographer assistants – Andrii Musoryn, Anastasiia Dobrovolska (Kyiv)

Chief choirmaster – Vadym Yatsenko

Set and lighting designer – Arvydas Buinauskas (Lithuania)

Chief lighting designer assistant – Oleksandr Mezentsev

Costume designer – Nataliia Mishchenko (Lutsk)

Chief costume designer assistant – Zhanna Maletska

Makeup artists - Yurii Kultchytskyi (Head of department), Lesia Halan, Maria Malanchyn, Andriana Kultchytska, Inessa Kultchytska, Olha Tchervinska.

Senior répétiteurs – Ihor Khramov, Tamara Levytska, Khrystyna Mordzyk

Accompanists – Svitlana Krupei, Alina Yanovska, Maksym Sasko

Stage managers – Oksana Holovanova, Andrii Bilous

***

2023, Lviv National Opera, Lviv, Ukraine.

📷 Victoria Kvitka

[pterodach]

[301-302]

Тіні забутих предків (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors | Sergei Parajanov | 1965)

[fourorfivemovements]

Films Watched in 2025: 1. Тіні забутих предків/Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) - Dir. Sergei Parajanov

[rwpohl]

brumes d'automne, dimitri kirsanov 1929

*

hung up, madonna, confessions on a dance floor 2005

express yourself, madonna, like a prayer 1989 (live, blond ambition world tour 1990)

gervaise, rené clément 1956

[cinematicjourney]

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) | dir. Sergei Parajanov

[oddygaul]

Quick Hits #7 - Nosferatu, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, A Real Pain

Nosferatu

I think this movie is Good, but just Not For Me. Maybe I’m not enough of a horror guy to really get a deep satisfaction out of Thomas being noisily suckled.

Nosferatu has some cool scenes in it, for sure: I loved all the shots of the Count’s marauding shadow, and Thomas’ absorption into the carriage was neat. I found the intense chiaroscuro a little tiring; I think the choking visual claustrophobia is a very intentional method of obscuring the proceedings, but it ultimately just irritated me.

The performances are a mixed bag. Lily-Rose Depp delivers an absolutely insane performance, wracked with inhuman tremors and shakes while still delivering lines convincingly. Dafoe is great as always, providing some unexpected levity with lines like “I’ve seen things that would make Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother’s womb!” coming at you outta nowhere. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, unfortunately, is present, and I continue to dislike Nicholas Hoult’s stupid face. Look, it’s not his fault or the result of his acting choices that my lizard brain has decided to hate him, but it’s hard for me to overcome.

Anyway, big W for the monsterfuckers out there so I’m happy for y’all

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Cool, albeit baffling.

I can see why the USSR banned it, because everyone in this movie is dripped out 24/7 in the most undeniably Ukrainian shit you can imagine. 

This has some of the most buckwild camerawork I’ve ever seen in a movie. All sorts of dramatic angles, tons of tracking shots, unusual pans in every scene, it’s got it all – and somehow remains visually clear and not headache-inducing.

The music is also fucking excellent, if underutilized. It’s crazy to me that Skoryk wrote this all-time banger for Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and they only used it in one single scene:

A Real Pain

It’s a testament to how well-acted this movie is that I cared for and empathized with both leads despite how incredibly frustrating they both were. Benji is simultaneously disarmingly charismatic, cutting through small talk to connect with people on a deeper level, and also maddening as he narcissistically tramples over the social contract and makes himself the main character of every situation. David, though more tolerable on the surface, neurotically dismisses most attempts at deeper interaction until his simmering hatred finally boils over, all of his accrued goodwill cashed out in one fell swoop during the dinner monologue. 

Even with all this drama, though, we understand where the characters are coming from: both Benji and David are struggling with finding empathy for themselves as they compare their current circumstances with the ordeals their ancestors overcame. Despite ostensibly being a character-focused drama, A Real Pain captures a real sense of solemnity in its discussion of the Holocaust; during the concentration camp tour scene, an otherwise chatty movie fully shuts up for a few moments, seeming to remind the viewer “this happened, and it’s not just set dressing.”.

And hey, the US seems to really need that reminder right now.

Also, wow, what a beautiful slice of Poland this movie shows. It’s such a 180 from how it’s normally depicted in American media, and per Polish cinematographer Michał Dymek, this was the goal:

“I wanted the portrayal of Poland in general to feel beautiful and dynamic and colorful and all the things that I feel when I'm there. I feel it's too often depicted as bleak, fetishizing its Eastern European Soviet communist history and fetishizing the horrors of the war. And that's not the Poland I know at all. The Poland I know is vibrant and colorful and warm. So I wanted to show that side of Poland, which is a side that I hadn't seen a lot in American movies, a side that felt just completely true to me.”

Nailed it. I’m still sitting here in awe that Poland’s trains are that nice. Shinkansen who?

[alloydia]

Remember me at least twice a day

I remember you seven times an hour

[the-railroad-earth]

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Sergei Parajanov, 1965