When Tarkovsky inscribed and sent his child's drawing to the imprisoned Parajanov, who annotated and forwarded it to the blacklisted Vartanov for his son Martiros - Boy with a Movie Camera - his journey in arts began. He escaped to Hollywood and, at UCLA, made his first film, entitled The Last Film, which was released by Criterion. He has also served as a juror and a curator at festivals in Beverly Hills, Busan and DOC LA, and worked on the restoration of the masterpiece The Color of Pomegranates selected for Festival de Cannes.