JIFF: The Stamp Thief

The Stamp Thief

“Fascinating… It was encouraging to find so many people ready and willing to do the right thing and to honour history’s ugly truths.” – The Coda #1

Australian Premiere

Part treasure hunt, part heist thriller and part shaggy dog story, The Stamp Thief is a documentary about a stamp collection. But not just any stamp collection – one that was stolen from concentration camp victims by a Nazi officer and buried in a small Polish town.

Enter: Gary Gilbert. A former producer on Seinfeld, Gary learns of this story and makes it his mission to track down this stamp collection and return the potentially highly valuable and rare stamps to their rightful owners. But to gain access to the building where the stamps are likely buried, Gary needs a ruse. He decides to stage an Argo-like fake movie production to ward off any suspicion from the Polish authorities.

This hilarious cat-and-mouse mystery takes audiences to all sorts of unexpected places as the culture clash between the American filmmakers and Polish locals complicates Gary’s plan in ways he never imagined.

Rating

Unclassified 15+

Duration

104 min

Country

United States

Language

English

Cast

Gary Gilbert

Director

Dan Sturman