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PRODUCTION Romania

Amsterdam art theft inspires action film

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- The Libra Film production follows 20 million euros worth of pictures from the Kunsthal museum in Amsterdam to (allegedly) a Romanian stove

Amsterdam art theft inspires action film

Libra Film is developing a feature about the Kunsthal museum burglary, dubbed “the biggest art theft in decades”: in October 2012, a gang of six Romanian thieves needed less than three minutes to steal seven famous paintings (by Picasso, van Gogh and Monet, among others) from the museum, a case covered by important media all over the world.

Photographer Cristian Movila, whose pictures were used to illustrate an article on the theft published by The New York Times, is developing the project together with producer-director Tudor Giurgiu (photo), whose comedy Of Snails and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tudor Giurgiu
film profile
]
was one of the most popular domestic releases in recent years. The team has already visited the natal village of Radu Dogaru, the gang's leader, where all or at least some of the paintings have allegedly ended in the stove of Dogaru's mother, who declared she burnt the paintings worth tens of millions in order to destroy evidence against her son.

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Movila and Giurgiu have already interviewed the burglars and are now talking with the Romanian prosecutors in order to discover details about their investigations and the sting operation that helped the police catch them. The team is now working together to draft the script.

According to Giurgiu, Libra is investigating the possibility of producing the film in English, with an international cast, including European and American actors. We have already received co-production proposals from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States. The story sells itself, as it’s an excellent premise for an action film”, declared Giurgiu in a press release.

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