In November 1988, director Anatoly Syrykh met with Sergei Parajanov in Tbilisi to make a documentary portrait of him. However, Parajanov was clearly not in the mood to talk about his art. As a compromise, Syrykh offers to talk about the artist and time, to which Parajanov immediately reports that in the morning he had a sore throat.

The tired, offended director of "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" forbids Syrykh to film him. He agrees only to speak, recalling the most unpleasant moments of his life: persecution and accusations of homosexuality, harassment and intimidation. At the same time, Syrykh shows footage from an exhibition dedicated to the director and footage from his film "Kyiv Frescoes". It all ends with Parajanov's very prophetic words that the state will need him only when he finds himself in a coffin. In two years, Parajanov will not become, and his figure will immediately enter the pantheon of the most important directors both in Ukraine and abroad.