Art Fraud Doc Shocker: Filmmaker Fights to Keep Source Material After Police Seize Raw Footage In Major Investigation
variety.comManori Ravindran Executive Editor of International A Canadian documentary maker whose film helped police crack one of the art world’s biggest fraud cases has been forced to surrender his source material to the Ontario Provincial Police as part of a production order.
Jamie Kastner is the director of “There Are No Fakes,” a 2019 documentary that uncovered an art fraud ring that passed off fake paintings as originals by the celebrated Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau, known for his vibrant paintings of the natural world and First Nations mythology.
The eye-opening film, which premiered at Hot Docs in Toronto, revealed there were up to 10 times more Morrisseau forgeries on the market as there were real works, and that the artist’s own nephew may have been complicit in helping to produce the fakes.
The film’s release inspired investigators in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to pursue the case, and in early March, police made eight arrests and 40 charges in addition to seizing 1,000 fake Morrisseau paintings.
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