Frescoes of the Flooded Monastery ...or How Lisa Saved «Apocalypse»
Flooded - poster

In 2007, Liza Likhacheva, director of Russia’s State Museum of Architecture, chanced upon a group of 17th-century frescoes in a museum storeroom. The frescos, which illustrate the biblical tale of the Apocalypse, had been part of a series gifted by the tsar to the Kalyazin Monastery. In 1937, upon Stalin’s order, the monastery was demolished and flooded to make way for a hydroelectric dam on the Volga River. But what happened to the frescoes? Documentary filmmaker Eleonora Tukhareli follows Liza in her search to locate, restore and exhibit these iconic Russian artworks – a search that involves Liza’s skills as a detective, political maneuvering, and underwater archaeologists. Part documentary, part imaginative melodrama, Tukhareli’s feature film makes timely comparisons between the 17th-century frescos and 21st-century environmental collapse.

 

 

Flooded - headshot

Eleonora (Ella) Tukhareli is an award-winning documentary film director. Born in the Russian city of Engels, she attended university in the same city, graduating from the Department of Philosophy. Tukhareli has received numerous prizes at international festivals. In 2021, she founded her own film company, where she collaborates with like-minded professionals to produce movies and seeks answers to global existential questions.