Art and Craft
Director: Co-Director Mark Becker, Jennifer Grausman, Sam Cullman Run Time: 89 min. Format: DCP Rating: NR Release Year: 2014
Nitehawk Cinema & Tribeca Film Institute Summer Documentary Series present the unique story of an art forger in ART AND CRAFT.
Q&A following the screening with Directors Jennifer Grausman and Sam Cullman along with Co-director Mark Becker, moderated by Caryn Coleman (Senior Film Programmer, Nitehawk Cinema). Introduction by Cara Cusumano (Programmer, Tribeca Film Festival).
Mark Landis has been called one of the most prolific art forgers in US history. His impressive body of work spans thirty years, covering a wide range of painting styles and periods that includes 15th Century Icons, Picasso, and even Walt Disney. And while the copies could fetch impressive sums on the open market, Landis isn’t in it for money. Posing as a philanthropic donor, a grieving executor of a family member’s will, and most recently as a Jesuit priest, Landis has given away hundreds of works over the years to a staggering list of institutions across the United States. But after duping Matthew Leininger, a tenacious registrar who ultimately discovers the decades-long ruse and sets out to expose his philanthropic escapades to the art world, Landis must confront his own legacy and a chorus of museum professionals clamoring for him to stop.
Art and Craft screens as part of a new initiative by Tribeca Film Institute and Nitehawk Cinema that presents a curated series of documentaries from the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. More information can be found here.