Dok Night – SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXICINEMA: THE LEGEND OF SURAM FORTRESS (1985) Directed by Sergei Parajanov and Dodo Abashidze
Every Thursday there’s a Vegan Dinner accompanying an exhibition opening/closing, a live performance, live music, movie screening or …
Come meet other people interested in art and activism, good food and great prices. Bring your favourite game and your friends. Or meet new people at the bar.
18u Open
19u Vegan Food
20u30 SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXICINEMA
THE LEGEND OF SURAM FORTRESS 1985
(ამბავი სურამის ციხისა)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov and Dodo Abashidze
88 minutes
In Georgian with English subtitles
Despite the fact that Sergei Parajanov was one of the most internationally acclaimed directors of all time, his films are rarely shown today. We projected his classic The Color of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova) several years ago, and the audience was blown away. His movies are ravishing visual tapestries, bordering on the psychedelic, leading you to places you have never been, stirring up feelings you never had before. And this film in particular—Suram Fortress—has a wild, eclectic, soul-jarring musical soundtrack. His movies are almost like moving paintings, and their stories unravel in a state of pure ecstasy.
This film is based on an old Georgian folk tale about a fortress that is under constant construction. Whenever they get close to finishing it, something gives way and it crumbles. Frustrated by this mystery, the King’s servants go to a fortune-teller, who reveals that a young boy must be walled up alive in one corner of the building, so that the fortress will stand strong. Parajanov made this movie after he was released from a Soviet prison, so perhaps the theme of this flick resonated with his own sacrifice of imprisonment.
He was 60 years old, had spent much of his life behind bars, and it’s incredible that after such a long dark journey, he could still make a film as unbearably bright as this. This is pure art, untouched by politics or business. It is one part ethnographic folk tale, and one part surreal cinematic poem. Parajanov was an artistic compatriot of Andrei Tarkovsky, and he remains one of most visionary and magical filmmakers who ever lived.
Presented by Jeffrey Badcock
A series of socially engaged movies, screened once a month on Thursdays. Touching on such hot topics as immigration, homelessness, racism, education, radical gender propositions, the pandemic and gentrification, these films not only explore visionary politics, but are also chosen to stir our imagination and creativity. The essence of cinema is the collective experience, and these screenings are aimed at creating intimate communities again in an increasingly hectic and fragmented world.
AND….. monthly exhibition ‘Silent Screamers’, ‘Hardwerkende Lanterfanters’ and more… by Gabriel van Hoften
