At the Lenin Museum, outside Moscow, curator Natalya Victorovna promises "a true Soviet-era experience." Some die-hard Communists still come, but attendance has dwindled, and the museum is struggling.

LENINLAND brilliantly captures the absurdities, contradictions, and surreal moments that come with trying to maintain a shrine to the father of a political system few want to see return. A Christmas tree stands near the feet of an enormous statue of Lenin. An Orthodox church is going up next door. Reel-to-reel tapes boom information about the electrification of Russia into empty rooms.

At the heart of the film lies curator Victorovna, a true believer in the Communist dream and a stickler for detail. She admits to a fondness for material goods, says she could stand to have a higher salary, and argues the fine points of Marxism with co-workers.

Now, she finds herself fighting a new director who cares more about marketing than historical content, and who threatens to cancel the museum's new showpiece - an exhibit to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the USSR.

Select Accolades

• Award from Guild of Cinema Critics and Cinema Researchers, 2013 Stalker HRFF Moscow
• 2014 Seattle International Film Festival
• 2014 Vladivostok IFF of Asian-Pacific Countries
• Award for Best Russian Debut Film, 2014 Message to Man IFF St. Petersburg
• Grand Prix, 2014 Magas Tourist FF "Rendezvous with Russia"
• Press Award, 2014 Yekaterinburg IDF ROSSIJA
• Best Documentary Director Award, 2014 Russian FF KINO Geneve
• 2014 Verzio HRFF Budapest