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Ashik Kerib (PG) + introduction by Michael Brooke

Queer 80s

A young person playing a lute in traditional clothing, against a desert scape.

Sergei Parajanov’s last film, co-directed by Dodo Abashidze, is an Azeri-Turkish love story about a wandering minstrel forced to roam the world for 1001 nights to win the hand of his beloved. 

Based on a tale by Armenian director Sergei Parajanov’s favourite Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov, Ashik Kerib is a gorgeous fable about a minstrel compelled to travel the Caucasus to earn riches and win the hand of a rich merchant’s daughter. On his travels he is nearly thwarted by a wicked pasha and a cruel sultan (to whom some critics have drawn parallels with Brezhnev and Stalin). 

The viewer may see similarities between the minstrel and Parajanov himself – both are persecuted for forbidden love (Parajanov was jailed for ‘homosexual acts’) and free themselves through art. Shot in Azerbaijan, Ashik Kerib is a glorious tribute to Azeri culture, filled with music, poetry and joy. Although any queerness is necessarily kept at a subtextual level, the film is a feast for the senses and stands as a fitting swan song for a unique director.

Tagged with: Cinema Queer 80s Pride 2024

Soviet Union 1988 dir Dodo Abashidze, Sergei Parajanov 73 min, in Georgian and Azerbaijani with English subtitles

The film has been restored by Georgian National Film Center.

Michael Brooke

Michael Brooke is a regular contributor to Sight & Sound, the Journal of Film Preservation and numerous Blu-ray labels, whose specialist interests include British and central-eastern European cinema.

‘Filled with lovely details of medieval frescoes and artifacts, sumptuous costumes and stirring folk songs. It is a children's tale as rendered by a sophisticated romantic. ‘
Walter Goodman, New York Times

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