Production Design
Wandering minstrel Ashik Kerib falls in love with a rich merchant's daughter, but is spurned by her father and forced to roam the world for a thousand and one nights. Now presumed dead by those he loves, he performs for the poor and unfortunate on his journeys through the wilderness. Parajanov's visually ravishing 'tableaux vivants' tell Lermontov's romantic tale while Turkish and Azerbaijani folk songs transport us into its mystical landscapes.
Art Direction
The stone-cutter, Nasdika, transforms stones into works of art. The labourer, Ivané, harvests wheat in the field. The monk, Béka, paints his pictures in the convent cell. The nobleman, Kirilé, has decided to get married. The war started by enemies turns all these people into warriors. Living Legends is a parable, a hymn to the glory of the georgian people, enamoured of freedom and independence, whose most worthy sons have never hesitated to die in the name of the glorious future of their country.
