In 1950 Parajanov married his first wife, Nigyar Kerimova, in Moscow. She came from a Muslim Tatar family and converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity to marry Parajanov. She was later murdered by her relatives because of her conversion. After her murder Parajanov left Russia for Kyiv, Ukraine, where he produced a few documentaries ("Dumka", "Golden Hands", "Natalia Uzhvy") and a handful of narrative films: "Andriesh" (based on a fairy tale by the Moldovan writer Emilian Bukov), "The Top Guy" (a kolkhoz musical), "Ukrainian Rhapsody" (a wartime melodrama), and "Flower on the Stone" (about a religious cult infiltrating a mining town in the Donets Basin). He became fluent in Ukrainian and married his second wife, Svitlana Ivanivna Shcherbatiuk (1938-2020), also known as Svetlana Sherbatiuk or Svetlana Parajanov, in 1956. Shcherbatiuk gave birth to a son, Suren, in 1958. The couple eventually divorced and she and Suren relocated to Kyiv, Ukraine.