Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors - The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) • Pre-order • 11/17/2026 Release

A towering achievement of world cinema, Sergei Parajanov’s modernist landmark fuses folkloric traditions, animistic mysticism, and hallucinatory visual invention. Adapted from a 1911 novella by Ukrainian writer Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors follows Ivanko (Ivan Mykolaichuk), a young Hutsul peasant who experiences both the depths of grief and glimmers of hope as he attempts to move beyond his first love, Marichka (an ethereal Larysa Kadochnykova). Steeped in the earthy atmosphere of the Carpathian Mountains, and featuring kinetic, radiantly colorful cinematography by Yuri Illienko and a collagelike experimental soundtrack, Parajanov’s film is a singularly mythopoeic work of art.

• Ukraine, Soviet Union
• 96 minutes
• Color/Black and White
• 1.37:1
• Ukrainian
• Spine #1336
• 1965

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

- New 4K digital restoration by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring historian Joshua First
- New introduction by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project founder Martin Scorsese
- New interview with actor Larysa Kadochnykova
- The Lilac Wind of Paradjanov (2025), a feature documentary by Ali Khamraev
- Shadowsur (2026), an experimental short film by Martiros Vartanov about director Sergei Parajanov’s son
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Carmen Gray

*New cover by Jason Hardy