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The Desert of Forbidden Art Commentary included by Edward Asner, Sally Field and Ben Kingsley Director: Tchavdar Georgiev Scriptwriters: Tchavdar Georgiev and Amanda Pope Composer: Miriam Cutler Cinematography: Gennadi Balitski and Alexander Dolgin Documentary English and Russian languages---subtitled Not Rated Running Length: 80 minutes Screened at Kansas International Film Festival (KIFF) Oct. 3, 2010 Artists live dangerous lives. The price to pay for expressing one’s view and emotion on canvas, music, writing, can be high---even death. This documentary concerns visual art on canvas---the painter. The territory is the Soviet Union and specifically Uzbekistan, a small country with limited natural resources and plenty of desert. What you would expect to find here is sand, desert bushes, heat and dry climate, plus camels. What you would never expect to find here is a museum with a contemporary art collection that is worth millions. A true gem in the rough. This documentary is beautifully photographed with appropriate music. We begin with the life of Igor Savitsky, who was originally from Kiev and settled into the arid climate of Uzbekistan. At first, he was in the military and one narrator has humorous accounts of how Savitsky worked in a kitchen. His life’s journey, or passion, if you may, began by collecting works of art from Russian and Uzbekistan artists. During the time period from 1920-1930, Russian artists came to Uzbekistan for artistic freedom. These people had suffered for their art. In later years, artists expressed their feelings on canvas, cardboard or whatever was handy. As a result, they were killed or sent to concentration camps or Stalin’s infamous gulags. Stalin wanted art to be of the working class---heroic, handsome and enviable. This is not the life during Stalin’s time, and when the artists began to paint what they actually saw, there was trouble. During his lifetime, Savitsky collected more than 44,000 individual pieces of art. They were bought with government money, sometimes off-the-record, stored and when a building became available, put on display with Savitsky as curator. Narrators tell of how Savitsky got some of the paintings. He literally prowled through cities keeping a sharp eye for something colorful. At times, a painting was found stored in an attic or back room or even patching a roof. In Nukus, Uzbekistan, is a contemporary building that draws visitors from around the world. Inside is a history of life from this part of the world that is shown in whatever style of art you may like---cubism, impressionism and more. There are brilliant colors, peasants in the field, and a genuine look at life, not something dictated by a government. Paintings are on display by Aleksei Rybnikov, Mikhail Kurzin, Alexander Volkov and Elena Korovay who spent years in prison and secretly painted there. With permission, one of Volkov’s painting sold for $480,000. Having such an art collection is a wonderful thing in today’s world of wars and bombings. When you remember how the ancient Buddhist statues were bombed during the past decade, preserving art can become of international concern. Savitsky is quoted as saying that the museum is like “…the keeper of the artist’s souls…they could not be destroyed.” Who can say more? Copyright 2010 Marie Asner
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