Stealing Klimt

Stealing Klimt

92 mins | Documentary | May 15, 2007

Stealing Klimt recounts the struggle by 90-year-old Maria Altmann to recover five Gustav Klimt paintings stolen from her family by the Nazis in Vienna. From the end of the War up until last year, these paintings hung in the Austrian National Gallery. The film covers Maria's early life in glittering fin-de-siècle Vienna, her dramatic escape from Nazi terror and her courageous fight to recover the five Klimt's against all the odds. Maria's fight to reclaim the paintings eventually took her to the United States Supreme Court and pitted her not just against Austria but also against the US Government which asked the Supreme Court to reject her case. After Maria finally emerged victorious in 2006, one of the paintings - the "Golden Portrait" of Maria's aunt, Adele Bloch Bauer - was sold to cosmetics tycoon Ronald Lauder for $135m, becoming the world's most expensive painting ever sold. The other four paintings were recently auctioned at Christie's for record prices.

Stealing Klimt

92 mins | Documentary | May 15, 2007

Stealing Klimt
Stealing Klimt recounts the struggle by 90-year-old Maria Altmann to recover five Gustav Klimt paintings stolen from her family by the Nazis in Vienna. From the end of the War up until last year, these paintings hung in the Austrian National Gallery. The film covers Maria's early life in glittering fin-de-siècle Vienna, her dramatic escape from Nazi terror and her courageous fight to recover the five Klimt's against all the odds. Maria's fight to reclaim the paintings eventually took her to the United States Supreme Court and pitted her not just against Austria but also against the US Government which asked the Supreme Court to reject her case. After Maria finally emerged victorious in 2006, one of the paintings - the "Golden Portrait" of Maria's aunt, Adele Bloch Bauer - was sold to cosmetics tycoon Ronald Lauder for $135m, becoming the world's most expensive painting ever sold. The other four paintings were recently auctioned at Christie's for record prices.
Producers Poppy Pictures
Original title Stealing Klimt
Directors Jane Chablani
Writers Martin Smith

Cast

Maria Altmann

as Self

Gerbert Frodl

as Self (archive footage)

Elisabeth Gehrer

as Self (archive footage)

Joseph Goebbels

as Self (archive footage)

Adolf Hitler

as Self (archive footage)

Willi Korte

as Self

Sophie Lillie

as Self

Arthur Seyss-Inquart

as Self (archive footage)

Monica Strauss

as Self

Gottfried Toman

as Self

Kurt Waldheim

as Self (archive footage)

Tina Walzer

as Self