Sergei Parajanov’s first feature film was co-directed by Yakiv Bazelian, but it was primarily Parajanov’s project. His lost 1952 diploma film for the VGIK (the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography), entitled Moldavskaya skazka [A Moldovan Fairy Tale], was based on the same material: Andriesh, the 1946 narrative poem by the Moldovan author Emilian Bucov. According to the critic Rostislav Yurenev, for his diploma film Parajanov constructed a “large puppet” for the character of Andriesh and integrated it with location shooting, “achieving a remarkable naturalness of movement and a combination of live nature with theatrical illusion”. This more conventional feature-film remake produced at the Dovzhenko Film Studio adheres to the popular Soviet fairytale film genre as exemplified by directors such as Alexander Ptushko and Alexander Rou. The film’s visual design is clearly inspired by the illustrations for Bucov’s poem and Bucov is listed as a co-author of the script. The film version, however, significantly changes the narrative and tames some of the strangeness of the original. In the poem, Andriesh’s closest companion is a talking ewe named Miora, and a seven-headed dragon serves as the main villain instead of the film’s evil wizard, Black Storm. The film was not a box-office success and was criticised in the Soviet press for its underdeveloped script, but the aspects that critics did admire then still retain their charm: the performance of the child actor Konstantin (Kostya) Rusu, the musical score, and Suren Shakhbazian’s cinematography.

James Steffen

Dumka is the first of the documentaries directed by Sergei Parajanov at the Dovzhenko Film Studio in Kyiv at the very beginning of his career. The film’s subject is the state academic choir Dumka, which became famous for its a cappella singing. The ensemble was established in 1919, in the times of the short-lived Ukrainian People’s (National) Republic. It survived WWII, Stalinism, thaw, stagnation, perestroika, and the repertoire reflected the changes and tastes of Soviet times – with communist-patriotic anthems, folk songs, and pieces of world classical music coexisting. The film itself is a mix of the choir’s performances, moving from the folk songs based on Taras Shevchenko’s poetry to revolutionary songs by Pavlo Tychyna and Ivan Franko. The Soviet Party’s hit Praise the Communist Party is the climax to the film.
Parajanov considered Dumka as his failure. However, it already reflected his creative exploration quite clearly. The director frankly was not interested in the ideological component, but he was looking for the opportunity to discover Ukrainian folklore. Parajanov had no desire to make an obvious musical TV film, so he visualised the words of the songs through tiny poetic narratives.
Thus, each song finds its own imagery. The folkloric motifs that recur in the story, reminiscent of Parajanov’s debut film Andriesh, become a declaration of love for the Ukrainian land. This eclecticism is underlined by the poetic force of images, in which Parajanov often echoes Dovzhenko. He also emphasizes the bond between humanity and nature, admiring the latter. Following Dovzhenko, he reminds us that folk culture emerged from this bond. Like many of his peers, Parajanov discovers Ukraine and its history through filmmaking.

Stanislav Bytiutskyi