The expedition, organized from 1976 to 1979 under the leadership of Algimantas Vidugiris, led to discoveries at the bottom of Issyk-Kul for the first time, where traces of an unknown culture, presumably existing around 2,500 years ago, were found.
Creating the film required deep immersion in scientific research, including trips to Moscow and Leningrad to work with scholars from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the State Hermitage. These consultations helped to better understand historical events.
In the team of "Kyrgyztelefilm" worked Algimantas Vidugiris, Omurkul Borubaev, and Tynaya Ibragimov, who conducted extensive search operations. They communicated with the last witnesses—elders—and also carried out underwater research and surveyed the northern and southern shores of Issyk-Kul by helicopter.
The result of their efforts was the artistic-documentary film "Report on the Legend," and maps of the sunken city were handed over for further study by scientists.
Algimantas Stanislavovich Vidugiris (June 21, 1936, Kaunas, Lithuania – June 25, 2010, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) was a renowned Soviet and Kyrgyz film director, playwright, academic, and researcher of Issyk-Kul. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR in 1982.
