Abstract art from the United States slowly and stealthily made its way into the Soviet Union in the 1950s, without government approval. A group of Russian avant-garde artists embraced this underground art with sparkling eyes and an open mind; one of them was Mikhail Koulakov – the talented, intense, dramatic artist who drew tremendous energy from the abstract art of Jackson Pollock and his friends. Koulakov’s fascinating story is told in this film: He grew up in the Soviet Union under the communist regime and had to emigrate to Italy after being accused of “social parasitism”. In Italy, he found his place as an artist and teacher. At the same time, this film tells the story of a stream of unofficial Soviet art that found expression despite endless bans. Its director, Vladimir Nepevny, whose 30-odd films are about artists and the creative process, recently immigrated to Israel. Here he uses documents, archival footage, Koulakov’s writings, and animated illustrations to depict a story, full of humanity and humor, about the eternal longing for freedom.
In the presence of the director
