Tini zabutykh predkiv (1964)

Director:

Sergei Parajanov

Writers:

Ivan Chendej (writer)
Mikhaylo Kotsyubinsky (story)

Release Date:

29 April 1966 (East Germany)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance

Plot:

In a Carpathian village, Ivan falls in love with Marichka, the daughter of his father's killer. When tragedy befalls her...

Plot Keywords:

Sorcerer | Fight | Funeral | Wedding | Nudity

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Ivan Mikolajchuk	...	Ivan
Larisa Kadochnikova	...	Marichka
Tatyana Bestayeva	...	Palagna
Spartak Bagashvili	...	Yurko
Nikolai Grinko	...	Batag
Leonid Yengibarov	...	Miko
Nina Alisova	...	Paliychuk
Aleksandr Gaj	...	Paliychuk (as O. Gaj)
Neonila Gnepovskaya	...	Gutenyuk
A. Raydanov	...	Gutenyuk
I. Dzyura	...	Ivan as a Child
V. Glyanko	...	Marichka as a Child
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
O. Ryazanov

Also Known As:

Тени забытых предков (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (USA)
Shadows of Our Ancestors
Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors
Teni zabytykh predkov (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Wild Horses of Fire

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Ukrainian

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-8

Company:

Dovzhenko Film Studios

Trivia:

For decades it has been believed and written, most notably in the Film Encyclopedia by Ephraim Katz, that Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors won the British Academy Award until Sergei Parajanov disciple Martiros Vartanov obtained an official statement from British Academy of Film and Television Arts which said that the movie wasn't a BAFTA award recipient.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the two children run down the hill to have a bath in the river, the entire camera rig, including the operator, can be seen in a shadow on the ground.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Life as a Dream (2007) (V)

Magical, bewildering, essential.

The first great film from the greatest director in post-war Soviet Union. The experience is almost like being strapped to a malfunctioning rollercoaster, as a relatively straightforward story - young man falls in love with neighbour; she dies; he mourns; remarries; still loves dead mate (Wuthering Heights anyone?) - is violently attacked by hurling camera movements that reveal the most vertiginous spaces, both exterior and interior; bizarre angles (eg from a falling tree); a restless mix of music from Kusturica-like horn blowers, shards of modernism and thrilling Romanticism; content that blends myth, dreams, legends, folk tales etc.; and editing that bewilders and disrupts rather than matches and connects. A brilliant recreation of a forgotten culture and times that was a dangerous two-fingers to totalitarianism.