Sergei Parajanov

Since the early 1960s, Parajanov increasingly became the subject of attention by the [[KGB]], for a variety of political activities related to his affinity towards [[Ukrainian nationalism]]. He was an active protester following the [[1965–1966 Ukrainian purge]]. In 1969 a report by the [[Committee for State Security (Ukraine)|Committee for State Security]] to the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union)|Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist party]] indicated their belief that Parajanov is a negative influence on his younger colleagues, as well as a key purveyor of ideologically harmful opinion. He was also deemed as someone with a desire to defect if he were to travel abroad.<ref name=":1" />

Since the early 1960s, Parajanov increasingly became the subject of attention by the [[KGB]], for a variety of political activities related to his affinity towards [[Ukrainian nationalism]]. He was an active protester following the [[1965–1966 Ukrainian purge]]. In 1969 a report by the [[Committee for State Security (Ukraine)|Committee for State Security]] to the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union)|Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist party]] indicated their belief that Parajanov is a negative influence on his younger colleagues, as well as a key purveyor of ideologically harmful opinion. He was also deemed as someone with a desire to defect if he were to travel abroad.<ref name=":1" />

In December 1973, he was arrested in Kyiv, and was accused of homosexuality, sodomy, and propagation of pornography. He was sentenced to five years in a hard labour camp.<ref name="mig.com.ua">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mig.com.ua/events.php?act=1&cat=1057&eventID=10849|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20070810210559/http://www.mig.com.ua/events.php?act=1&cat=1057&eventID=10849|url-status=dead|title=''Осужден за изнасилование члена КПСС'' (in Russian), ''Moskovskiy Komsomolets'', 2004|archivedate=August 10, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pisu |first=Stefano |date=2021-09-01 |title=New perspectives on the Parajanov affair: The role of Italian activism in the transnational campaign for his release |url=https://journals.openedition.org/monderusse/12499?lang=en |journal=Cahiers du monde russe. Russie - Empire russe - Union soviétique et États indépendants |language=en |volume=62 |issue=2–3 |pages=443–472 |doi=10.4000/monderusse.12499 |issn=1252-6576|hdl=11584/326731 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Three days before Parajanov was due to be sentenced, his friend [[Andrei Tarkovsky]] wrote a letter to the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union)|Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine]], asserting that "In the last ten years Sergei Parajanov has made only two films: ''Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors'' and ''The Colour of Pomegranates''. They have influenced cinema first in Ukraine, second in this country as a whole, and third in the world at large. Artistically, there are few people in the entire world who could replace Paradanov. He is guilty – guilty of his solitude. We are guilty of not thinking of him daily and of failing to discover the significance of a master." An eclectic group of artists, actors, filmmakers and activists protested on behalf of Parajanov, calling for his immediate release. Among them were [[Robert De Niro]], [[Francis Ford Coppola]], [[Martin Scorsese]], [[Leonid Gaidai]], [[Eldar Ryazanov]], [[Yves Saint-Laurent (designer)|Yves Saint Laurent]], [[Marcello Mastroianni]], [[Françoise Sagan]], [[Heinrich Böll]] [[Louis Aragon]], [[Jean-Luc Godard]], [[François Truffaut]], [[Luis Buñuel]], [[Federico Fellini]], [[Ingmar Bergman]], [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]], [[Roberto Rossellini]], [[Luchino Visconti]], [[Michelangelo Antonioni]], [[Mikhail Vartanov]], and [[Andrei Tarkovsky]].

In December 1973, he was arrested in Kyiv, and was accused of homosexuality, sodomy, and propagation of pornography. He was sentenced to five years in a hard labour camp.<ref name="mig.com.ua">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mig.com.ua/events.php?act=1&cat=1057&eventID=10849|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20070810210559/http://www.mig.com.ua/events.php?act=1&cat=1057&eventID=10849|url-status=dead|title=''Осужден за изнасилование члена КПСС'' (in Russian), ''Moskovskiy Komsomolets'', 2004|archivedate=August 10, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pisu |first=Stefano |date=2021-09-01 |title=New perspectives on the Parajanov affair: The role of Italian activism in the transnational campaign for his release |url=https://journals.openedition.org/monderusse/12499?lang=en |journal=Cahiers du monde russe. Russie - Empire russe - Union soviétique et États indépendants |language=en |volume=62 |issue=2–3 |pages=443–472 |doi=10.4000/monderusse.12499 |issn=1252-6576|hdl=11584/326731 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Three days before Parajanov was due to be sentenced, his friend [[Andrei Tarkovsky]] wrote a letter to the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union)|Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine]], asserting that "In the last ten years Sergei Parajanov has made only two films: ''Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors'' and ''The Colour of Pomegranates''. They have influenced cinema first in Ukraine, second in this country as a whole, and third in the world at large. Artistically, there are few people in the entire world who could replace Paradanov. He is guilty – guilty of his solitude. We are guilty of not thinking of him daily and of failing to discover the significance of a master." An eclectic group of artists, actors, filmmakers and activists protested on behalf of Parajanov, calling for his immediate release. Among them were [[Robert De Niro]], [[Francis Ford Coppola]], [[Martin Scorsese]], [[Leonid Gaidai]], [[Eldar Ryazanov]], [[Yves Saint-Laurent (designer)|Yves Saint Laurent]], [[Marcello Mastroianni]], [[Françoise Sagan]], [[Heinrich Böll]], [[Louis Aragon]], [[Jean-Luc Godard]], [[François Truffaut]], [[Luis Buñuel]], [[Federico Fellini]], [[Ingmar Bergman]], [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]], [[Roberto Rossellini]], [[Luchino Visconti]], [[Michelangelo Antonioni]], [[Mikhail Vartanov]], and [[Andrei Tarkovsky]].

Parajanov served four years out of his five-year sentence, and later credited his early release to the efforts made by the [[France|French]] [[Surrealist]] poet and novelist [[Louis Aragon]], Aragon's wife [[Elsa Triolet]], and the American writer [[John Updike]].<ref name="autogenerated2" /> His early release was authorized by [[Leonid Brezhnev]], [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], presumably as a result of Brezhnev's meeting with Aragon and Triolet at the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] in Moscow. When asked by Brezhnev if he could be of any assistance, Aragon requested the release of Parajanov, which was finalized by December 1977.<ref name="mig.com.ua" />

Parajanov served four years out of his five-year sentence, and later credited his early release to the efforts made by the [[France|French]] [[Surrealist]] poet and novelist [[Louis Aragon]], Aragon's wife [[Elsa Triolet]], and the American writer [[John Updike]].<ref name="autogenerated2" /> His early release was authorized by [[Leonid Brezhnev]], [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], presumably as a result of Brezhnev's meeting with Aragon and Triolet at the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] in Moscow. When asked by Brezhnev if he could be of any assistance, Aragon requested the release of Parajanov, which was finalized by December 1977.<ref name="mig.com.ua" />