SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS VERGESSENER AHNEN

The film tells the legendary love story of Ivan and Marichka from the Ukrainian people of the Hutsuls. In the Carpathian world of mountain farmers and sheep breeders, the couple’s love is hindered by the enmity between the two families: Ivan’s father is murdered by Marichka’s father. Paradzhanov shot this film that first established his international reputation in the Ukraine. Instead of pursuing a narrative thread he works with leitmotifs, moods, colours, sounds, and music. The film is characterized by fantastical, stylized landscapes and boldly assembled sequences of sound and image. One Soviet critic wrote: “The film opens up new possibilities of poetic filmic expression.”