Retrospective on Sergei Paradjanov, the great Armenian filmmaker and national artist, organised by La Cinémathèque française from 28 November to 5 December 2024, under the patronage of the Ambassador of Armenia, H.E. Hasmik Tolmajian. To mark the occasion, the filmmaker's film, Le dernier collage (The Last Collage), about the life of the artist and filmmaker, his family and friends, his art and his struggles, will be restored as part of an initiative to preserve our cinematographic heritage.

A protean artist born in 1924 in Tbilisi (Georgia) to an Armenian family, and who died in Yerevan (Armenia) in 1990, Sergei Paradjanov was immersed in a diverse artistic universe from an early age. This environment inspired his practice of collage, which infuses each of his works.

For Sergei Paradjanov, the essential thing was not the narrative, but the vision, the image. He said he was inspired by his dreams and made no distinction between a painting and a film.

The collage is reflected in his desire to unify the peoples and cultures of the Caucasus in his writings, films and handiwork. The artist travels culturally between Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine and the Arab world.

The Francis Kurkdjian Endowment Fund is proud to contribute to highlighting the work of this exceptional figure, considered to be one of the most important directors of the 20th century and the great Armenian national filmmaker, hailed by his peers Tarkovski, Fellini and Godard.