Their art and way of life are a mirage of elusive beauty. Here, the legendary past shares a roof with the everyday present. On the verandas of old dachas, samovars still emit their smoke, while through the mist rising from the ravines, it seems as if eyes from the past are peering into our world. And we will follow that gaze—into the workshop of toy-making master Viktor Nazariti, into the village house of artist Maria Dreznina, into the old home of Yuri Macheret and Marina Faidysh, once bought from the Polenovs, into the garden of Irina Starzhenetskaya and Anatoliy Komelin. The artistic dynasties of the Vatagins, Bragovskiys, and Birshteins will open their doors, pouring the energy of creativity onto their canvases, joining us in gazing into the mist rising from the ravines—wondering if, for a fleeting moment, eyes from the past will appear within it.
Jan 2025
“The main character Sergei is a Russian tour guide. He is completely mired in loans and debts. In order to get out of this pit, he invents a legend and organizes a tour of Buryatia, at the end of which he promises tourists a meeting with a real Baikal mermaid. Unexpectedly for him, completely different people who come to Lake Baikal for their dream respond to his ad on the internet: an elderly Japanese woman, a childless family from St. Petersburg, a single European, two killers from Moscow, a noisy Chinese family, and four religious Mongols.
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