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# Sergei Parajanov and Yuri Mgoyan in Tbilisi in 1988
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/sergei-paradzhanov-i-iurii-mgoian-v-tbilisi-v-1988-godu/
- Published: 2026-03-19T06:31:33.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:26:34.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, The East, Cinema, People

Parajanov met Mgoyan in Tbilisi. The young man had no connection with cinema whatever, but the director saw in him the hero of Lermontov's oriental tale, all the more so as he expected no psychological game, wanting instead to see plastic expressiveness and the ability to be a part of the picture.

Parajanov dedicated the film "Ashik Kerib", of which Mgoyan became the face in the role of the singer-poet Kerib, to Andrei Tarkovsky. In the end "Ashik Kerib" became the last completed feature film by Sergei Parajanov to be released in cinemas.

Of course, it is written that Mgoyan was an ordinary young man without any particular talents, and that Parajanov quite literally moulded his image on the borderline of urban myth. Mgoyan was the hero not only of the film but also of Parajanov's artworks, for example a series of collages using stills and photographs of him.

The photographer Yuri Mechitov, who took part in the filming of this picture, writes:

> Parajanov knew how to see in a person what the person himself did not suspect in himself. Yura Mgoyan, a Kurd by nationality, he chose for his fantastic, almost biblical appearance. He used to say: "I don't need him to act, I need him to be"

After "Ashik Kerib" Yuri Mgoyan scarcely appeared on screen again; his filmography lists a few bit parts, but his creative path became rather a part of the great legend of Parajanov and Ashik Kerib.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_20103@19-03-2026_09-31-33.jpg)