This film is a compelling detective story about one family's 50 year quest to recover their missing art collection, set against a background of murder, greed and corruption. In 1943, Friedrich and Louise Gutmann, members of a prominent German-Jewish banking family living in Holland, refused to sign over their valuable collection to the Nazis. They were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, interrogated and murdered. Their house was stripped bare.After the war, the Gutmanns' children, Lili and Bernard searched unsuccessfully for the stolen art. In 1994, Bernard's sons took up the mission, joined by art hunter Willi Korte. The story culminates in the discovery of a stolen Degas painting (pictured above) and the controversial legal battle to reclaim it, revealing the complicity of the international art world, dealers, auction houses, curators, and museums in the trade and acquisition of Nazi plunder.
Quotes
"Making a Killing is not only a beautifully-shot documentary, it has become a powerful tool in the arsenal of those fighting to address the 'unfinished business of the Holocaust.' In the case of artwork looted by the Nazis and now held in private and quasi-public collections, Making A Killing has already played an integral role in resolving two important cases in Chicago and Seattle. Anne Webber is a gifted filmmaker, and an articulate and passionate spokesperson for the cause of stolen art."
- Nancy Vineberg, Founding Director, Seattle Jewish Film Festival"Making a Killing pulls no punches in its examination of the conspiracy of silence perpetuated by the art world."
-San Francisco Jewish Film Festival"A deeply moving film..."
-The Scotsman
"A STOLEN ART WORLD"
The Jewish Advocate, September, 2007
The National Center For Jewish Film
Brandeis University, Lown 102, MS053, Waltham MA 02454
P: (781) 899 7044, F: (781) 736 2070
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