The Story of a Photograph reveals Elizaveta Bondar's directorial talent in a new way—it is a production created for an intimate setting at the intersection of drama and puppet theater. This pseudo-documentary performance tells the story of a modern couple—she a director, he a playwright—who reunite after a breakup to stage a play. They draw on the story of a photographer who dreamed of photographing Maxim Gorky all his life, but met the great writer only once, in 1929, on the way to Solovki.

"The original idea was to create a mockumentary play about a man who didn't exist, but for whom Gorky was the most striking figure in his life. Coming up with a linear story for such a genre was difficult, and it was hard to find a theme that would excite both the playwright and me. But after some time, I realized that none of that mattered, and the only thing we had going on was my and the playwright's attempt to understand why Gorky returned to the USSR. It immediately became clear that this story was also about us, because I'm here, and the playwright left Russia a long time ago. We have been working together, creating plays, but we never really discussed the most important circumstance in which we now find ourselves through the texts. The end result is a play in which truth is only a theme that emerges from the fictional plot," says director Elizaveta Bondar.

The puppets and sets for the play were designed by Maria Krivtsova. Productions featuring puppet theater elements she has worked on have won awards at Russian festivals: The Scarlet Flower by the Taratumb Theater won the "Best Performance for Children 6+" category at the Troubadour festival and competition of non-governmental theaters for children and young people, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice by the Lipetsk Academic Drama Theater named after L.N. Tolstoy won the "Best Puppet Theater Performance for Older Children" category at the 8th Big Children's Festival.

The puppet characters of the play come to life thanks to the actors of the Moscow Children's Puppet Theater.

The premiere of The Story of a Photograph took place as part of the Gorky+ Festival of Arts.