In November 1988, director Anatolii Syrykh met with Sergei Paradzhanov in Tbilisi to film a documentary portrait of him. However, Paradzhanov was clearly not inclined to talk about his art. As a compromise, Syrykh suggested speaking about the artist and the era, to which Paradzhanov immediately replied that he had coughed up blood that morning.
This is a candid confession about the most difficult moments of his life. The film combines archival footage with a critique of the Soviet film system and is part of a cycle of portraits of the Sixtiers created by director Anatolii Syrykh.
The film was digitised from a 35mm positive print using a Blackmagic Cintel Scanner in 2026 by the Dovzhenko Centre Film Laboratory in collaboration with the Docudays NGO, with financial support from the European Union.
