NEON Takes Worldwide Rights to Sundance Award Winner 'The Painter and the Thief'

Benjamin Ree's documentary tells story of artist who befriended a man that stole two of her prized canvases

A painting of Karl-Bertil Nordland by Barbora Kysilkova, as seen in "The Painter and the Thief." Image courtesy NEON

Fresh from winning four Oscars including Best Picture for Parasite, independent distributor NEON is placing its next bet on The Painter and the Thief. 

The company acquired worldwide rights to the documentary by Norwegian director Benjamin Ree, a month after the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Award for Creative Storytelling. The documentary two-hander explores the relationship that developed between gifted artist Barbora Kysilkova and Karl-Bertil Nordland after the latter and his accomplice stole two of her paintings from a gallery in Oslo. Kysilkova approached Nordland at a court proceeding following his arrest, triggering an unusual friendship and artistic collaboration.
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It all started with me researching art robberies, and we have a great tradition of that in Norway.

--Director Benjamin Ree on the origins of The Painter and the Thief

The acquisition must immediately place The Painter and the Thief into the awards conversation for 2021 (as premature as that may sound) because of NEON's track record in fiction and nonfiction: the company also backed the 2020 double Oscar-nominated documentary Honeyland, as well as Oscar-shortlisted documentary hits Apollo 11 and The Biggest Little Farm.

Ree attended the world premiere of The Painter and the Thief, along with members of his production team and his subject, Kysilkova. In an amusing exchange during a Q&A following the premiere, Ree explained that Nordland was unable to join them in Park City because he couldn't get a visa, owing to his criminal record. 

"He really wanted to [come], but he couldn't get into the U.S. unfortunately," Ree told the Sundance audience. "He asked me to say something to you... It was really important to him,  and that is that he is single today and he has even bigger muscles [than he had in the film] and he has some new face tattoos and that you can find him on Instagram under @Bertilizer."

Director Benjamin Ree (left) speaks after the world premiere of "The Painter and the Thief" at the Sundance Film Festival. Park City, Utah, January 23, 2020. Photo by Matt Carey

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At the Q&A Ree was asked to shed light on how the documentary came about.

"It all started with me researching art robberies, and we have a great tradition of that in Norway... I am very fascinated by art robberies," Ree explained. "Then this story [of the art theft] was in the front page in the news in Norway, so I just contacted Barbora." 

Ree's film achieves a remarkable intimacy as the relationship between artist and thief deepens; far from being angry at Karl-Bertil, Barbora became one his chief supports as he battled addiction and a near-fatal motor accident. She described participating in the documentary as surprisingly natural.

"I have to admit it really was not difficult, or for Karl-Bertil, to actually just do as we would do even if there was no camera around," she commented.  "Both [the crew] and Benjamin,  as they kind of call it, [were like] flies on the wall. It was so easy to forget about their presence and to just keep on living and somehow it happened that it was caught on camera. That's my perspective. I very often forgot there was anyone else around."

There is no word yet on a release date in the U.S. or elsewhere for The Painter and the Thief. The documentary was produced by Ingvil Giske; Oscar winner Morgan Neville executive produced. 

"Jeff Deutchman [NEON's EVP of Acquisitions & Production] negotiated the deal for NEON along with  Salma Abdalla from Autolook on behalf of the filmmakers," according to a press release from NEON.

It was an active Sundance for NEON. The company also joined forces with Hulu, spending $17,500,000.69 to acquire the Adam Sandberg comedy Palm Springs. Deadline.com explained the unusual purchase price this way: "That... put it 69 cents past The Birth of a Nation, the Nate Parker-directed film that was purchased at 2016 Sundance by Fox Searchlight."