Virtual Cinema: The Painter & The Thief
Fri, May 22
|Epsilon Spires Virtual Cinema
Desperate for answers about the theft of her two paintings, a Czech artist seeks out and befriends the career criminal who stole them. After inviting her thief to sit for a portrait, the two form an improbable relationship and an inextricable bond that will forever link them.
Time & Location
May 22, 2020, 12:01 AM – Jun 05, 2020, 11:59 PM
Epsilon Spires Virtual Cinema
About the event
Tickets are $3.99 - Now Streaming: https://neonrated.vhx.tv/checkout/epsilon-spires-presents-the-painter-and-the-thief/purchase
Director Q & A Coming Soon!
When two paintings by Czech naturalist Barbora Kysilkova are stolen from an Oslo art gallery, Norwegian authorities quickly identify and arrest the two thieves but find no trace of the paintings. Hoping to learn what happened, Barbora approaches one of the thieves, Karl-Bertil Nordland, at his criminal hearing. She asks if she can paint his portrait and, contrite, he agrees. What follows—over a series of portraits and many years—is an extraordinary story of human connection and friendship.
Using a structure that cleverly shifts perspectives, filmmaker Benjamin Ree unfolds the vulnerabilities of two souls who come to recognize themselves in the other—the darkness, wounds, compulsions, and self-destructive behavior. Throughout the film, our understanding of both people—and the stolen paintings—changes entirely. In life, certain aspects of human nature defy comprehension, and yet this film materializes them in a…