The Painter and the Thief
- Sun, Dec 14
The Frida Cinema's seating is first-come, first-serve. For our Midnight Screenings, please plan on arriving by 11:30pm to ensure ample time for parking, picking up concessions, and securing optimal seats. Screening will begin promptly at midnight.
Director: Benjamin Ree Run Time: 102 min. Release Year: 2020 Language: Norwegian
Starring: Barbora Kysilkova, Bjørn Inge Nordland, Karl-Bertil Nordland, Linda Ville Marie Ruud, Øystein Stene
Our Lost Films Of Covid series is delving into many of the films that we wished we played on the big screen during the years of 2020 and 2021, but with The Painter And The Thief , we get to explore titles that weren’t even on our radar at that time!
When two of artist Barbora Kysilkova’s most valuable paintings are stolen from a gallery at Frogner in Oslo, the police are able to find the thief after a few days, but the paintings are nowhere to be found. Barbora goes to the trial in hopes of finding clues, but instead she ends up asking the thief if she can paint a portrait of him. This will be the start of a very unusual friendship. Over three years, the cinematic documentary follows the incredible story of the artist looking for her stolen paintings, while at the same time turning the thief into art.
The Painter and the Thief asks whether understanding another person can ever truly heal them—or ourselves. We can’t think of a better way to end our series on films of the Covid era that never got to be seen on the big screen.
Thank you to our friends at Filmbot for their support in presenting this amazing series.