‘Keep Police Hands Off Documentary Footage’: Canadian Director Prepares for Court, Launches Fundraiser to Protect Source Material
Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Canadian filmmaker Jamie Kastner has launched a fundraiser to support his legal costs in fighting the Ontario Provincial Police against a production order that could force him to surrender the source material for his documentary. Kastner is the director of “There Are No Fakes,” a 2019 doc 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 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.