The Ideal Museum: Renaissance Rediscovered

Year: 2023
Country: Russia
Director: Ivan Bolotnikov, Fyodor Pronko
Genre: documentary
Age: 18+
The film is dedicated to the story of rescuing the unique Renaissance sculpture collection, which belongs to the Pushkin State Museum. 

The sculptures were transferred from Berlin to Moscow in 1946 after The Second World War events and known as the Donatello Project. The authors focus on the collection’s fate, the history of its restoration and powerful cooperation between museums, which made the whole rescuing project possible. Filming took place in museum storage facilities and workshops in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Berlin, and Florence. 

The film also features rare documentary footage and photography from the 1940s–1950s, sourced from the archives of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the State Hermitage Museum, and the Russian State Documentary Film and Photo Archive. Most of this material will be shown for the first time.

Awards & Festivals:

Apriti Cinema Festival at the Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy) – world premiere