The Film

The story

Vienna, 1976. A boy of thirteen, newly arrived from the Caucasus, climbs into the attic of an old house and finds a Bible illustrated by Gustave Doré. Fifty years later he sets out to do what Doré did — with 299 artists from some eighty countries.

The film travels backwards and forwards at once. Backwards: from Vienna to Moscow, from Moscow to Baku and the mountain village of Krasnaya Sloboda, where the story begins. Forwards: into the studios of the artists, one country after another, as the 301 works come into being.

What the camera sees

Before any artist begins, there is a conversation on record — about a life, a technique, a way of working. Then the work itself. Not from the first stroke to the last: an artist's craft is their own, and no one is asked to show what they would rather keep. The camera is present at moments — the first mark on the canvas, a decision, a doubt, the day the work is finished.

Where we are

Filming began in 2026: in Krasnaya Sloboda in September, with the first artists in Moscow in October. Production continues as the cycle grows and will be completed with it. The premiere is planned for the first exhibition of the collection.

The archive

Alongside the film, an archive grows — footage from the studios, stages of individual works, the voices of the artists in their own languages. It will open here step by step, as the works are released.