Alexis Zelensky

Born and raised in Rocinha, Maxwell Alexandre burst onto the contemporary art scene at the age of 28, and his paintings soon began commanding exorbitant prices. As it follows his relentless creative process and the preparation for an exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the documentary explores the wound behind his success. By occupying one of the most elite spaces in the art world, he confronts a structurally racist system and the contradictions of becoming part of the very institution his work challenges.

In 1917, during the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, hundreds of families, supporters of the fallen tsar and imperial Russia, fled the country and took refuge all over Europe. A hundred years later, nostalgia for the Motherland is still alive…