Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft Revisited in New Film

A new independent feature film, "Art Thief", is making a successful round of film festivals across the country and it has just been announced that the film will be screening February 5th at the Cabot Theater in Beverly.

Long time Boston area residents may recall that on St Patrick’s Day evening 1990, the famed Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum located in the Fens section of Boston was robbed by two perpetrators disguised as Boston Police Officers. They stole 13 pieces of art work during their daring 81 minute raid valued at over $550 Million – including Vermeer’s painting “The Concert”, Manet’s “Chez Tortoni”, Edgar Degas’ “Leaving the Paddock”, and Rembrandt’s “A Lady and Gentleman in Black” and “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee”.

“The Concert”, one of only 36 paintings by Vermeer, and Rembrandt’s “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee”, his only known seascape, are considered amongst the most valuable stolen objects in the world. It remains the largest art heist in history.

No one was ever charged with the theft and none of the 13 stolen pieces have ever been recovered. But how could the thieves have successfully moved these - what some would call priceless - pieces of art through the art world undetected?

This film may have the answer. Starring Max Deacon (Into the Storm), Jacqueline Emerson (The Hunger Games), Boston area legend Lenny Clarke (Fever Pitch), Keith Szarabajka (Transformers: Dark of the Moon), Chris Lazzaro (Blue Bloods) and Tim Misuradze (Julia) and inspired by the true events of this heist, "Art Thief" (https://www.artthiefmovie.com), weaves the known facts of this case with a theory of how they did it, creating a fascinating drama that feeds into the widely popular speculation and conspiracy theories behind this sui generis event in history.

"Art Thief" has been very successful at several festivals across the country. At the Orlando Film Festival "Art Thief" was the opening night feature film and won Best Picture; Best Actress (Jacqueline Emerson) Best Supporting Actor (Chris Lazarro;) It also garnered nominations for Best Actor (Max Deacon); Best Screen Play; Best Director (Arthur Egeli); Best Trailer; Best Production Design. This was out of 257 submissions. At Cineworld Sarasota, "Art Thief" picked up Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Chris Lazarro). At the Alexandria Film Festival, "Art Thief" won their top award for best overall picture, "Best of the Fest". Last month out at the Culver City Film Festival in LA, Chris Lazarro won once again as Best Supporting Actor for his role as "Bobby the Rat". And next month "Art Thief" will be the Saturday night featue film at the Chandler Film Festival in Chandler Arizona.

1916 Films LLC, the production company for "Art Thief" is currently in negotiations with several distribution companies after the film screened at the American Film Market (AFM) in October. But producers and Filmmaker Arthur Egeli are particularly excited that the Cabot Theater will provide the first Boston area screening of the film. Egeli commented, "It's exciting because across the country audiences have reacted so strongly to this film based on their viewing of the Netflix documentary series. But people in the Boston area lived it so we are particularly interested in audience reactions here."

For further information, visit the Cabot Theater website www.thecabot.org. Readers can watch the film trailer at www.artthiefmovie.com.