TRAILER
A daring look at the underbelly of the global art market, from remote Cambodian villages to billionaires and elite art institutions in New York and London, LOOT is a daring look into the underbelly of the multi-billion-dollar art market and the deadly reality behind “blood antiquities” filling Western museums today. Orchestrating a lucrative criminal network during the Cambodian Civil War, British “adventurer-scholar” Douglas Latchford led a team in the looting of thousand-year-old temples buried in landmine-riddled jungles.
LOOT features unprecedented access, including to “Blue Tiger,” a child-soldier-turned-looter now working to bring artifacts home, and the Cambodian investigators as well as the American detective who organized “Operation Indochina Peninsula Plunder,” which led to Latchford’s indictment.
The film tells the gripping story of the contrast of rich and poor as viewers learn about multi-million-dollar sales of works looted by Cambodian farmers paid $20.00 per week while risking their lives.
Viewers are also taken behind-the-scenes as stolen pieces are returned to Cambodia, including some arriving from New York’s Met Museum in July 2024. With thousands of pieces still overseas, Cambodia’s relentless struggle continues against the most powerful figures in the art world today. In the context of decolonization, LOOT is a story of redemption for a small country with a troubled past that is slowly winning the battle to bring their gods home.
Director: Don Millar
Producer: Cole Northey, New Theory Pictures
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