“The Painter and the Thief” is Getting a Remake

Karl Bertil-Nordland in "The Painter and the Thief"

The Painter and The Thief remake is officially in the works at Neon. 

The remake of the Benjamin Rees documentary lands at Neon after it won a bidding war for the project. Co-developing the project is StudioCanal and Blueprint Pictures. 

The Painter and The Thief had its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The Norwegian film follows a Czech artist Barbora Kysilkova and her friendship with Karl Bertil-Nordland, a man who stole her artwork.

The film won the award for Creative Storytelling at the Festival. It also took home the Best Documentary Feature award at the BFI London Film Festival and received two Critics’ Choice Awards nominations for best documentary feature and best director.

So far, the film has received positive reviews from critics with Variety’s Peter Debruge saying, “Incredible. That’s the word that comes to mind with Benjamin Ree’s ‘The Painter and the Thief,’ a stranger-than-fiction friendship story in which vérité techniques produce unbelievable results.”

Neon is also the home for Bong Joon Ho’s Best Picture Oscar winner Parasite. It’s also been working with Apple TV on Alex Gibney’s Totally Under Control.