ZDF/3sat

Art and Crime – Theft

Three masterpieces simply disappear. Robbed from the Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt. It is the greatest art theft in German history. But how will the art thieves manage to install the loot on the market? A nerve racking tug-of-war, a struggle between the thieves, mafia bosses, dealers, lawyers, investigators, insurances and museums begins.

In simply all scoundrel films art theft is considered to be the uncrowned discipline of burglary. A vast expanse of action for especially tricky and elegant thieves. But what happens in reality? What are the motives of the art thieves? And what do they actually do with the stolen masterpieces?

Bang Went the Art! is an exciting game of hide-and-seek – hunting for lost treasures that have fallen prey to criminals. Two of the most successful art investigators worldwide, Charley Hill and Dick Ellis, start tracing the ways and means of the thieves. Recovering the Turners and the Caspar David Friedrich has set a certain standard and has cast a light on many questions still unresolved, queries that make the Schirn theft puzzling right up to this day.

The series „Art and Crime“:

No walk of life is as dazzling and so near to the beat of time as the art world. Nowhere else may a clash of cultures be so closely observed as when avant-garde and commerce meet, nowhere else are feuilleton and market so closely knit. But how is it possible that the art market is considered to be the filthiest market apart from dealing with drugs? Does there still exist something like a gentleman thief, some person like Thomas Crown, who passionately steals pictures for his own collection? What is so enigmatic about art? Why is art so sought-after, so precious and singular that an individual is prepared to commit a crime for the sake of art? Where and why does crime hit upon art?

In four diverse series with a large range of main cases, a staff of renowned experts and material witnesses for exemplary cases we celebrate the high quality of art as our corpus delicti and offer a survey of the international art market and its shady sides.

Alle Sendetermine:

All the broadcasting dates
13th June 2015, 9.40 p.m: All Because of Wally
14th June 2015, 11.05 p.m: Knoedler and the Chinese
15th June 2015, 11.10 p.m.: A Goddess Astray
16th June 2015, 11.10 p.m.: Bang Went the Art!

Documentary D, 2015, 45 min.
Television Premiere: June 13, 2015 / 9.40 p.m.

Director & Script: Andreas Gräfenstein
Off-Camera Speaker: Sophie Rois
Idea: Bernhard von Hülsen, Carl von Karstedt, Torsten Berg
DOP: Chris Valentien
Sound: Robert Sandow, Lucie Westbrock
Art-Direction: Philipp Baben der Erde
Graphics & Animation: Andreea Varga, Michael Wende
Editing: Nina Mühlenkamp
Archive: Sophie Jennert, Hanna Belz
Production Assistant: Pit Pallesche
Production Manager: Johanna Bergel
Line Producer: Linn Sackarnd
Producers: Bernhard von Hülsen, Maria Willer
Commissioning Editor: Thomas Janssen (3sat)

A production on behalf of ZDF/3sat