Following the success of Parajanov’s widely celebrated Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Kyiv Frescoes was originally conceived as part of an industry-wide effort to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Germany in World War II. Working with cinematographer Oleksandr Antypenko and indulging in the surreal and balletic style that would become the director’s signature – a radical stylistic shift from Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors – the fourteen minutes of screen test footage that Parajanov delivered were anything but a celebration of military strength.
Upon being viewed by the filmmaking authorities of Ukraine and Goskino, the central state film committee in Moscow, the footage was shelved due to "an impressionistic film imbued with the idea of pacifism," and the project was canceled shortly after.
