From its vertiginous opening sequence in which a tree crashes down on a woodsman, to its scenes of young lovers Ivan and Maricha in the forest, Paradzhanov’s adaptation of a Ukrainian story is imbued with lyricism. Theforgotten ancestors of the title are mid-19th century villagers, who frolic naked in their youth and grow up to be adulterers and murderers. Paradzhanov stops at nothing in his quest for startling images and the athleticand bizarre visual effects take their tone from the folk ballads that recur on the soundtrack. The film won numerous awards at festivals around the world and established the director in the West and put him at loggerheads with the Soviet authorities for the rest of his career.