8pm
Directed by Sergei Paradjanov
(1969, 88 mins, DVD)
Originally refused an export licence, Paradjanov’s extraordinary film traces the life of eighteenth-century Armenian poet Sayat Nova (dubbed ‘The King of Song’). Rather than using conventional biographic techniques, the film strings together a series of painterly images to correspond to moments of his life: angels descend; pomegranates bleed their juice into the shape of a map of Armenia; and the poet changes sex at least once in the course of his career. The result is a stream of religious, poetic and local iconography which has an arcane and astonishing beauty.
Park Nights 2009
Park Nights is an annual series of events staged every Friday night in the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. This year’s programme includes music, theatre, performances, talks and film screenings. The website gives details of the events that run over the summer until September. The season culminates in October with Poetry Marathon, the latest in the Gallery’s acclaimed series of Marathons, conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Gallery Co-Director.
All events are held in the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009
Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA
All Park Nights tickets £5/£4
Available from the Gallery Lobby Desk or Ticketweb: 08444 77 1000
www.ticketweb.co.uk
Park Nights
Sergei Paradjanov
The Colour of Pomegranates 1969
Film still
Courtesy BFI, London
