How does art survive in times of oppression? During Soviet rule, artists who were loyal to their vision were executed and sent to mental hospitals or Gulag. Their predicament inspired the young Igor Savitsky. He pretended to purchase nationally approved artworks, but boldly rescued 40000 works of banned peer artists and created a museum in the Uzbekistan desert far from KGB surveillance. Despite being a penniless artist himself, he still fraudulently obtained cash from the same authorities that banned this art to pay for it. Savitsky has accumulated a eclectic combination of Russian avant-garde art. But his biggest discovery was that after the 1917 Russian Revolution, a group of unknown artists settled in Uzbekistan and encountered a unique Islamic culture that was as exotic to them as Tahiti to Gauguin. They developed an astonishing original style that blends European modernism with centuries old Eastern traditions. Ben Kingsley, Sally Field, and Ed Asna provided voiceovers for Savitsky and the artists' diaries and letters. This movie interweaves memories of the artist's children and rare archival clips, leading us on a dramatic journey of sacrifice for creative freedom. These paintings are described as one of the most striking collections in 20th century Russian art, located in one of the poorest regions of the world and now worth millions of dollars. They are a lucrative target for Islamic fundamentalists, corrupt bureaucrats, and art profiteers. These collections are still on the brink of extinction, just like when Savitsky first created them, which raises the question of who is responsible for protecting this cultural treasure.
