FILM SCREENINGS

The Desert of Forbidden Art

2010. Russia/Uzbekistan/USA. Written, produced, and directed by Amanda Pope, Tchavdar Georgiev. Painter and archeologist Igor Savitsky collected forbidden Russian avant garde art works beginning in the late 1950s, created a museum in Uzbekistan to house them, and discovered an unknown school of artists established after the Russian Revolution of 1917 influenced by the Islamic culture. His daring story is vividly told through archival photographs, interviews with people from the region today and the diaries and letters of Savistky and the artists read by Ben Kingsley, Sally Field, and Ed Asner. The film brings attention to this endangered priceless collection. International Film Selection. 80 min.