83’, Documentary
TRUE FAKES
by Stefano Strocchi
Italy, Germany, 2026
When the German police found over a thousand bronze statues by Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti in a Mainz warehouse in 2009, they never imagined they were stumbling upon one of the largest art frauds ever committed in Europe. For over a decade, an unknown gallery owner, a peculiar German count, and a mysterious Dutch forger had been selling their fakes to auction houses, museums, and institutions across the continent.
Blending the drama of a true-crime thriller with the unlikely exploits of a ragtag gang of amateur criminals, the film follows the investigation led by Police Inspector Ernst Schoeller. Meanwhile, Robert Driessen takes us deep into the great Giacometti forgery scam and a life fueled by art fraud: cutting deals with auction houses, having collectors land helicopters in his garden, delivering hundreds of fakes along the German autobahn, fleeing to Thailand, and ultimately facing his arrest in 2015.
A bizarre, unexpected, and unbelievable crime story, yet it is all completely true... Except for the thousands of bronze statues…
written and directed by Stefano Strocchi
director of photography Nikolaus Von Schlebrügge
produced by Indyca and Unknown Media
in co-production with WDR, ARD Kultur, NDR, RBB, SWR
in collaboration with SKY Arte
producers Stefano Strocchi, Simone Catania, Francesca Portalupi
line producers Antonietta Bruni, Valeria Venturelli, Greta Mentzel
edited by Michele Fornasero, Christian R. Timmann
music by Eike Hosenfeld, Moritz Denis, Giorgio Li Calzi
co-funded by Creative Europe MEDIA, European Union
with the support of MiC - Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo,
Piemonte Doc Film Fund,