The Desert of Forbidden Art
2011 · 80 MIN · IMDB 7.6 · 238 VOTES · DIR. Amanda Pope, Tchavdar Georgiev
Overview
How does art survive in a time of oppression? During the Soviet rule artists who stay true to their vision are executed, sent to mental hospitals or Gulags. Their plight inspires young Igor Savitsky. He pretends to buy state-approved art but instead daringly rescues 40,000 forbidden fellow artist's works and creates a museum in the desert of Uzbekistan, far from the watchful eyes of the KGB. Though a penniless artist himself, he cajoles the cash to pay for the art from the same authorities who are banning it. Savitsky amasses an eclectic mix of Russian Avant-Garde art. But his greatest discovery is an unknown school of artists who settle in Uzbekistan after the Russian revolution of 1917, encountering a unique Islamic culture, as exotic to them as Tahiti was for Gauguin. They develop a startlingly original style, fusing European modernism with centuries-old Eastern traditions.
Dialogue Timeline — 557 lines
A SAMPLE ACROSS THE RUNTIME — EVERY LINE IS SEARCHABLE
00:00:56 Savitsky: I found these paintings
00:03:55 For those people who consider Uzbekistan to be
00:05:54 The little girl with the bow is me, groomed in
00:07:37 sense of freedom.
00:12:23 Marinika: This is the classical costume of Karakalpak
00:15:44 Around that time I came across an art catolog
00:18:56 My landlord was rather puzzled.
00:20:59 they are full of sarcasm, irony, grotesque.
00:24:57 inefficient irrigation channels so that huge amounts
00:29:32 would inevitably be removed from that system
00:31:16 collection done by Komarovsky.
00:33:45 of capitalism, but as you take a closer look.
00:35:51 out that there are greater opportunities for artists'
00:40:28 of the works for the attention of the commission
00:42:17 Regional Communist Party Department and he
00:48:22 Ural Tanskybaev who was recognized by the
00:50:50 Marinika: We can see his real soul in his early paintings.
00:56:46 Savitsky took these paintings from Elena.
01:01:24 such enough money to have bought all the paintings
01:05:57 no way out at present.
01:07:34 Afghanistan have also emerged in Uzbekistan.
01:09:12 the front page of that section it's naturally
01:10:32 I pointed to a weaving and I said this is a spectacular
01:14:00 He had suffered so much and food was the only