When Tarkovsky inscribed and sent his child's drawing to the imprisoned Paradjanov, who annotated and forwarded it to the blacklisted Vartanov for his son Martiros — Boy With A Movie Camera — he became their disciple. His first film, The Last Film, dedicated to them, was released by Criterion. A graduate of UCLA, he was a juror and a curator at festivals in Los Angeles, Busan, and DOC LA, and worked on the restoration of the masterpiece The Color of Pomegranates selected for Festival de Cannes