Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month

The Colour of Pomegranates
The film that Martin Scorsese compared to ‘opening a door and walking into another dimension, where time has stopped and beauty has been unleashed’.
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1968 80 mins
Director: Sergei Paradjanov
Overview
Sergei Parajanov's celebrated masterpiece paints an astonishing portrait of the 18th century Armenian poet Sayat Nova, the 'King of Song'. Parajanov's aim was not a conventional biography but a cinematic expression of his work, resulting in an extraordinary visual poem. Key moments in his subject's life are illustrated through a series of exquisitely orchestrated tableaux filled with rich colour and stunning iconography, each scene a celluloid painting alive with stylised movement.
Following the international success of Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors (1964), Sergei Parajanov was commissioned by Armenfilm Studios in Yerevan to make a film about the life of the 18th-century Armenian ashugh, Sayat Nova. Eschewing the conventional biopic, Parajanov chose the cinematic visualisation of Sayat Nova’s poetry, mixing ethnic rituals with surrealistic happenings. Deemed inaccessible by Soviet authorities, it was re-cut and given a nominal release under the title The Colour of Pomegranates. This restored version presents the original Armenian cut, complete with Parajanov’s preferred stream of consciousness narrative. The apotheosis of the poetic tradition in Soviet cinema kick-started by Dovzhenko, Sayat Nova still exerts a strong influence on contemporary art house cinema.

Related
Animation & Artists Moving Image

Bronco's House Bronco's House
Drama 2015 44 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
A young man strives to provide a home for his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child, in Mark Jenkin's mid-length precursor to Bait.

The Last of England The Last of England
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1987 91 mins Director: Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman's passionate and poetic lament on the rise of Thatcherism and corporate dealings.

Sebastiane Sebastiane
Historical drama 1976 85 mins Director: Derek Jarman
A distinctly bold and sensual reclaiming of gay history, Jarman here tells the sexually intense story of the 4th-century martyr.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1961 85 mins Director: Karel Zeman
Karel Zeman’s wildly inventive and comic take on the surreal adventures of the bragging Baron explodes on to the screen in a riot of colour, visual wit and poetic verve.

The Whalebone Box The Whalebone Box
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2019 83 mins Director: Andrew Kötting
On their latest jaunt, Iain Sinclair and Andrew Kötting set out to return a whalebone box to its place of origin in the Outer Hebrides.

Last and First Men Last and First Men
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2020 70 mins Director: Jóhann Jóhannsson
Two billion years ahead of us, a future race of humans finds itself on the verge of extinction. Tilda Swinton narrates this visually stunning lament for humanity by acclaimed composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (Sicario, Arrival).
Tilda Swinton selects

Stranger by the Lake Stranger by the Lake
Drama 2013 100 mins Director: Alain Guiraudie
A young man witnesses a violent crime at a gay cruising ground and becomes obsessed with the killer in Alain Guiraudie’s acclaimed mystery-thriller.

La Belle et la Bête La Belle et la Bête
Fantasy 1946 95 mins Director: Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau’s ravishingly restored 1946 film is a cinematic classic. “Five stars. [This] magical exploration of the fairytale is a compelling and bizarre masterpiece” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Fantasy 2010 109 mins Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong's Cannes prizewinner, about an ailing man revisiting his past, is a measured, lyrical evocation of mysterious beauty and quiet humanity.

Medea Medea
Drama 1970 111 mins Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini directs opera singer Maria Callas in a vivid adaptation of Euripides' Greek tragedy.

Journey to Italy Journey to Italy
Drama 1954 86 mins Director: Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini's acerbic but finally very moving masterpiece about marital crisis boasts great performances from Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders

I Was Born, But... I Was Born, But...
Comedy 1932 87 mins Silent Director: Yasujirō Ozu
Ozu's silent masterpiece follows two brothers as they try to outwit the local bully.
New

Bronco's House Bronco's House
Drama 2015 44 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
A young man strives to provide a home for his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child, in Mark Jenkin's mid-length precursor to Bait.

Alps Alps
Drama 2011 94 mins Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Yorgos Lanthimos directs this odd drama in which a group of people start a company where they impersonate the dead to help customers through the grieving process.

Bait Bait
Drama 2018 89 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
Simmering tensions between locals and newcomers in a modern-day Cornish fishing village reach boiling point in this hugely acclaimed British independent film.

Il Divo Il Divo
Biopic 2008 113 mins Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Giulio Andreotti, arguably the most famous and notorious Italian politician of the post-war era, was Prime Minister in his country no less than seven times. Accused of corruption and Mafia involvement, this is far from stodgy history.

Timbuktu Timbuktu
Drama 2014 96 mins Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Living in the sand dunes just outside the city of Timbuktu, a cattle herder and his wife find their peaceful existence disturbed by forces attempting to dictate their lifestyle.

Querelle Querelle
Drama 1982 109 mins Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Jeanne Moreau plays a jaded brothel madam caught up in the violent sexual awakening of Brad Davis' naïve young sailor in Fassbinder's fever dream of subversive eroticism.