July 22, 2026

We are very excited to announce that Elvin Brandhi will perform a live score to accompany a film by Daniel Bird made from raw scans of outtakes, screen and camera tests from Parajanov’s The Colour of Pomegranates (1969).

Early this year, Bird and Brandhi plundered the archives of Armenian Public radio, transferring Soviet-era sound effects from original magnetic tapes, while making field recordings in mountainous landscapes and crumbling temples, to make an original soundtrack for this unseen material, in dialogue with the composer of the film’s original soundtrack, Tigran Mansurian.

Here, Brandhi will augment this soundscape with her unique vocal improvisations, marking out a territory somewhere between ritual and cinema. An auditory delight not to be missed!

During this edition of DokuFest we have already put a special focus on Sergei Parajanov’s work with a special programme titled “Parajanov Triptych” making its way to Prizren’s cinemas on August 8th. On the same date, there is another appendix to the Parajanov in DokuFest, with the opening of the exhibition titled ‘A Cage in Search of a Nightingale: Slogans and Sounds for Sayat Nova Outtakes', by Brandhi and Bird, at Pyke-Presje in Prizren, which will present an unknown Parajanov, caught somewhere between magic and Soviets, folklore and the avant-garde.

Reiterating the live performance, happening on August 9 in Prizren [soon more details will be available], Daniel Bird and Elvin Brandhi [pseudonym for sound artist, singer and producer Freya Edmondes] will shed light on the intersection of analogue and digital media at the beginning of the 21st century.

Through Elvin Brandhi's live scoring of these archival materials, the sonic aspect of the film will be reinterpreted. The latter's work is described as capable of producing a complete orchestra of affective sounds. This live performance accentuates Sergey Parajanov and Tigran Manusrian work as dictated by the importance of the spirit of place. Furthermore, it is a lens through which the timelessness of the film's visual poetry becomes ever so clear.

And last but not least, we are delighted to be screening Parajanov's seminal film The Colour of Pomegranates, as part of the Blast from the Past section of the festival.

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The programme and the exhibition are supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.