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What responsibilities does an artist have towards their subject when revealing their vulnerabilities to the world? What about documentary filmmakers and the people, culture, and places they capture?

Following a screening of the acclaimed new documentary The Painter and the Thief, and inspired by its powerful portrayal of the shifting power dynamics between a painter and their muse, this panel discussion explores the ethics of representing a subject and the complex relationships that happen behind the scenes. Join visual artist Vernon Ah Kee, Dr Peter Hegedus, Director/Producer of BIFF 2019’s Lili and Deputy Director (Research & Engagement), Griffith Film School and Professor Susan Best, art historian and Professor of Art Theory and Fine Art, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, for a robust discussion on these fascinating dynamics. Moderated by Ellie Buttrose, Curator, Contemporary Australian Art, QAGOMA.

Panel Discussion will be livestreamed into Cinema B.

The Painter and the Thief

When a Czech painter has two major paintings stolen from Oslo’s Gallery Nobel, she embarks on a quest to better understand the thief through the lens of compassion and forgiveness.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize for Creative Storytelling from the Sundance Film Festival 2020, The Painter and the Thief tells of an unexpected bond that grows between artist Barbora Kysilkova and the drug-addicted thief Karl Bertil-Nordland. After he is caught and charged for the 2015 theft, Kysilkova approaches him in court to ask, ‘I wonder if I could paint you?’. What follows is a complicated and deeply personal narrative exploring the risks of entwined co-dependency that can form between an artist and muse when they are drawn to each other’s troubled histories.

Ages 18+