Pelechian Project

The new restorations of Artavazd Pelechian’s films are unquestionably among the year’s greatest cinematic gifts. Born in Soviet Armenia in 1938, the reclusive, trailblazing filmmaker and theorist has created some of the most indelible images of all time, teeming with startling vibrancy and passages of pure exhilaration and pathos. His visionary practice employs his signature concept of direct montage to create rhythmic echoes between images, extending thematic motifs like electrified brackets.

Mixing archival images with documentary footage, Pelechian’s films are wordless, though visually and musically maximalist. This programme comprises five of his major works, each a harrowing ode to humanity, and its natural cycles of existence. They include the city symphony Land of the People (1966); The Beginning (1967), which employs a novel staccato effect to conjure the rush of the October Revolution; We (1969), a masterpiece portrait of Armenian resistance that transforms “we” from the localized to the universal; and his best-known work, The Seasons (1975), which includes the oft-referenced scenes of Armenian shepherds embracing their herds as they sluice down snowy hills. We conclude with The End (1992), a gentle hymn to travel and faces filmed during a train ride from Moscow to Yerevan.

Greatly admired by the likes of Sergei Parajanov and Jean-Luc Godard — and a major influence on contemporary filmmakers Pietro Marcello and Oliver Laxe, among others — Pelechian remains one of today’s towering cinematic figures, and yet still deserving of wider recognition.

ANDRÉA PICARD

Total runtime: 86 minutes

The restoration of Artavazd Pelechian’s films was launched by Coproduction Office in partnership with Cineteca di Bologna under the director’s supervision. The best available elements were selected by the director and scanned in 4K at the Public Television Company of Armenia. Restoration and color grading were carried out by L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory. 

Content advisory: images of graphic violence and death