“I Will Revenge This World With Love” S. Paradjanov starts from the director’s perspective in 2022 Moscow. We hear protestors crying, “No War! No War!” We see her thumb scroll through articles and eventually click on an interview of rebel artist Sergei Paradjanov. And so we start learning about him, over a dialogue with this powerful man, interviews with acclaimed artists and admirers of his, and the director’s journey into the enigma of his legacy.
As Zara Jian physically travels from Moscow to Paradjanov’s museum in Armenia, we travel through a psyche-house of his creations. Whipping through dark hallways, from room to room, we observe S. Paradjanov’s work, illuminated by red shafts of light streaming through narrow, barred doorways.
In the courtyard of this museum, there is a tree covered in crochet. Director Jian rips off a flashlight hanging from this tree, leaving her shoes and phone to explore the bowels of the building. A flashlight is used to spotlight each artwork in turn. Lights in darkness; showing what we know of Paradjanov’s time in prison—his artwork. Jian constructs a 3-dimensional storyline, framed by the camera, the environment of the interviews, and the meat of Sergei Paradjanov’s story.
His life and work are framed in the Soviet-era tensions of national identity and self-determination. Paradjanov has been described as an Armenian born in Georgia, imprisoned in Russia for Ukrainian nationalism. Imprisoned 3 times in solitary confinement, for a grand total of 15 years, Paradjanov continued to create. His artworks range in medium from collages to sculptures to films, and possess a mysterious playfulness.
Zara Jian has a total love for filmmakers and the craft itself. We can see it in the dimensionality & play of her images encasing those of the artists she interviews and the legendary Paradjanov.
The documentary features compelling interviews with artists from around the globe, admirers and colleagues of Paradjanov. The interviewers are invited into lushly decorated catacomb rooms. We are positioned as flies on the wall as they take in their surroundings, express what language they want to interview in, and share their first impressions of Sergei Paradjanov. Tarsem Singh is a Pakistani filmmaker who has played off Paradjanov’s style for Lady Gaga’s music video 911, among other works. Chulpan Khamatova is a Russian actress, and as a transnational artist herself addresses the lasting fear artists face under authoritarian regimes. Atom Egoyan and Emir Kusturica are, respectively, Canadian and Serbian filmmakers whose films are shown in pieces in the documentary. The latter laments the absence of modern cinematic geniuses. The former reflects on the “mysterious energy of objects” in Paradjanov’s work, as in The Color of Pomegranates, demonstrated in clips throughout, which has striking scenes such as rows of priests biting into pomegranates and a boy lying on a roof amidst open Bibles riffling in the wind.
The relationship of interviewing is more intimate than usual. Jian reveals herself in her position next to the camera, showing the backstage process in black and white, a shaky camera distancing the audio of the interview and focusing on Jian’s silhouette, her questions posed on an iPad. Some tangential conversation around the questions and Paradjanov is shown, as well as Jian hugging each of the interviewees in farewell.
Homage is paid to the medium of film itself, with the camera being involved in some of the movie’s action, and the cameraman, Norayr Kasper being shown and referenced by Atom Egoyan as a colleague. The behind-the-camera context is shown in more raw black and white.
The documentary style is more a visual than an informational experience—a personal rather than solely historical one. The editing is fluid, challenging the classic perspective and rhythm of documentary viewing. This dynamic approach keeps us on our toes, alive with the sudden pluck of a violin on movement, the quick pan of camera to another collage or painting of the many Paradjanov produced.
Paradjanov’s inspiring story is captured by an immersing personal and artistic perspective. The documentary's strength lies in its refusal to simply catalog Paradjanov's biography. It experimentally interacts with his magnetism, images from his career, and the influence of his radical artistic vision on contemporary filmmaking alongside the eternal tension between creative freedom and political and cultural borders.
“I Will Revenge This World With Love” S. Paradjanov will be screening at the Fall 2025 New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, September 14. The film will be Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 5 PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ. Tickets are available for purchase here.
The 44th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 5-October 10, 2025. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VoD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person screenings. Plus, we are very proud to announce that acclaimed band Cold Weather Company will be doing an audio-visual concert on Friday, October 10 at 7PM. Lastly, we will be offering three FREE Filmmaking Workshops! The in-person screenings and the Cold Weather Company concert will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 1PM, 5PM or 7PM on their show date. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program. The Filmmaking Workshops are FREE and open to the public but have limited seating and require advance registration. To register email us at [email protected]
For more info go here: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalfall2025.eventive.org/welcome
