Amid the rise of the far right in Germany, as the spoils of collections stolen during the Second World War hit the world art market afresh, lawyers, curators, politicians and Jewish groups the world over are duking it out, painting by painting, sketch by sketch, over questions of ownership, history and morality. A series of failed attempts by the city of Düsseldorf to honour German-Jewish art dealer Max Stern, who barely escaped the war, settled in Montreal and became Canada’s most successful art dealer, cuts to the heart of the current crisis in Germany and the art world beyond around the restitution of Nazi-looted art. Through a combination of exclusive interviews, actuality captured over a period of four years, and a gold mine of rarely seen stock footage, The Spoils traces the sometimes tragic, often irony-laced strokes in this ongoing battle.
Join director Jamie Kastner and art restitution lawyer Raymond J. Dowd for a post-screening Q&A moderated by film critic Jason Gorber on Saturday, April 5.
TICKETS (+HST)
General: $15
Members: $10, $8, FREE