A painstaking restoration of Sergei Parajanov's 1968 masterpiece, a highly unconventional biopic of the 19th-century Armenian poet Sayat Nova recounted in a succession of opulently exotic tableaux.

One of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century, Sergei Parajanov's "Color of the Pomegranate," a biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova (King of Song) reveals the poet's life more through his poetry than a conventional narration of important events in Sayat Nova's life. We see the poet grow up, fall in love, enter a monastery and die, but these incidents are depicted in the context of what are images from Sergei Parajanov's imagination and Sayat Nova's poems, poems that are seen and rarely heard. Sofiko Chiaureli plays 6 roles, both male and female, and Sergei Parajanov writes, directs, edits, choreographs, works on costumes, design and decor and virtually every aspect of this revolutionary work void of any dialog or camera movement.

“Watching Sergei Parajanov’s The Color of Pomegranates, or Sayat Nova, is like opening a door and walking into another dimension, where time has stopped and beauty has been unleashed,” said Martin Scorsese. Scorsese's Film Foundation has restored the original Armenian version of Sayat Nova — a visually dazzling biography of the eponymous 18th-century Armenian poet and musician related through a succession of opulently exotic tableaux. Restored in 2014 by The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project at Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata in association with the National Film Centre of Armenia and Gosfilmofond of Russia. Restoration funding provided by the Material World Charitable Foundation and The Film Foundation.

Martin Scorsese will intro THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES on Thu.11/Sep.