Renowned director and documentarian Artavazd Peleshyan marks birthday anniversary
Today marks the birthday anniversary of one of renowned directors of film-essays, documentarians of the world cinematography Artavazd Peleshyan. Filmmaker Sergei Parajanov once described Peleshyan as "one of the few authentic geniuses in the world of cinema." Peleshyan is most famous for developing a style of cinematographic perspective known as distance montage, combining perception of depth with oncoming entities, such as running packs of antelope or hordes of humans.
Peleshyan was born on the 22nd of February, 1938 in Leninakan (Gyumri), Armenia. He later studied at the legendary Russian film school VGIK from 1963 to 1968 and now lives in both Armenian capital Yerevan and Russian capital Moscow.
His early films, made when he was still a student at VGIK, were awarded several prizes. To date, 12 films by Peleshyan are known to exist. The Beginning (Skizbe) (1967) is a cinematographical essay about the October Revolution of 1917. One of the unique visual effects used in this film is achieved by holding snippets of film still on a single frame, then advancing only for a second or two before again pausing on another, resulting in a stuttering visual effect. Other important films by him are We (Menq) (1967, a poetically told history of Armenia and its people, and Inhabitant (Obitateli) (1970), a reflection on the relationship between wildlife and humans. Artavazd Peleshyan's most brilliant film is considered, by many critics, to be The Seasons of the Year (1975). Exquisitely shot by cinematographer Mikhail Vartanov, it is an outstanding look at the contradiction and harmony between humans and nature. It was the last collaboration between Peleshyan and Vartanov, Armenia's two most important documentary auteurs; they first worked together on The Autumn Pastoral (1971).
Peleshyan is also the author of a range of theoretical works, such as his 1988 book, Moyo kino (My Cinema). He is now living in Moscow. His most recent film was edited at the ZKM | Karlsruhe Film Institute in 2005-2006 and has not yet been released.
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