The Desert of Forbidden Art (2011)

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TRIVIA

This was the winner of the Cine Golden Eagle Award; Best Documentary Award at Palm Beach International Film Festival, and the Audience Award at Beijing International Film Festival.

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SPECS

• Project Phase: Completed
• Release Date: 2011-03-11 - NY and/or LA
• Distributor(s): 
• Film Genre(s): Documentary
• Country: United States
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SYNOPSIS

This is the incredible true story of how one man, Igor Savitsky, saved a treasure trove of art worth millions of dollars, “hiding” it in a museum in the desert in Uzbekistan. A tireless collector of paintings that the Soviet government wanted destroyed, Savitsky traveled thousands of miles — scheming, plotting, pleading — doing whatever it took to get his hands on the art he so passionately wanted to preserve. As a result of his efforts, The Karakalpakstan State Museum of Art named after Savitsky, also known as the Nukus Museum - hosts the world's second largest collection of Russian Avant Garde Art (after the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg).

A frustrated artist, Savitsky was working as an archaeologist when he became fascinated by the indigenous cultures of Western Uzbekistan. He began to collect jewelry, coins, handmade clothing and other items in danger of being lost as the Soviets sought to devalue distinctively ethnic artifacts. Savitsky even succeeded in convincing government officials to provide funding for a museum in Nukus, far from Moscow’s prying eyes. But then Savitsky discovered his true calling. Pretending to buy State-approved art, he daringly rescued over 40,000 works by artists banned during the Stalin era for speaking out against authority, for being gay, or for simply refusing to paint in the style they were told. Risking torture, imprisonment and death, this small group had remained true to their artistic vision. Savitsky even managed to cajole the cash to pay for the art from the same authorities who had banned it.

Savitsky’s greatest discovery was an unknown school of artists who settled in Uzbekistan after the Russian revolution of 1917. There they encountered an Islamic culture as exotic to them as Tahiti was for Gauguin, developing a startlingly original style that fused European modernism with centuries-old Eastern traditions. To Savitsky the paintings were a revelation. Around the saga of Savitsky and the artists, the filmmakers weave the cultural and political context of the times, juxtaposing beautiful and colorful images from the collection with rare Soviet archival film and stills. Ben Kingsley, Sally Field and Ed Asner voice the diaries and letters of Savitsky and the artists, bringing to life a dramatic journey of sacrifice for the sake of creative freedom.

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