Museum Cinema / The Spoils, 2024
The finest films on art and culture will be screened, after a short lecture by the Museum’s curators.
Admission to the Museum’s exhibitions is included in the film ticket, during the Museum’s opening hours.
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The Spoils, 2024 | Dir. Jamie Kastner | Canada, 2024 | English and German, Hebrew subtitles | 105 minutes
Film introduction: Film Introduction: Noa Rosenberg, Curator of Modern Art
About four weeks before its scheduled opening in 2018, a painting exhibition at the Düsseldorf City Museum was abruptly canceled. The sudden decision marked a turning point in a long-standing controversy—a legal and politically explosive dispute over the rightful ownership of artworks looted by the Nazis during World War II.
Like the canceled exhibition, the film centers on Jewish-German art dealer Max Stern, who was forced to dismantle his gallery under Nazi pressure. Today, his estate’s trustees lead the international struggle for restitution and recognition.
This fast-paced documentary—rich with exclusive interviews and rare archival footage—has all the elements of a gripping crime film: mystery, heroes, villains, and a lot of money. It offers a sharp, ironic look into the heart of the moral dilemmas surrounding the fate of property and belongings left behind—items that some now call “the last prisoners of the war.”