Sony Pictures Classics has acquired worldwide rights (excluding UK, France and Germany) to the documentary “The Lost Leonardo.” The film tells the inside story behind the Salvator Mundi, the most expensive painting ever sold at $450 million, presumed to be a long-lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci.
Watch a clip from the documentary in the video above.
The documentary — directed by Andreas Koefoed and produced by Andreas Dalsgaard for Copenhagen-based Elk Film and Christoph Jörg for Paris-based Pumpernickel Film — is currently in post-production. Dogwoof and its production finance arm, TDog Productions, are both financiers in the project.
The story of “The Lost Leonardo” is described as such: “From the moment it is purchased from a shady New Orleans auction house, and its buyers discover masterful brushstrokes beneath its cheap restoration, the fate of the Salvator Mundi is driven by an insatiable quest for fame, money and power. But as its price soars, so do questions about its authenticity. Is this multi-million dollar painting actually by Leonardo — or do certain power players simply want it to be? Unraveling the hidden agendas of the world’s richest men and most powerful art institutions, ‘The Lost Leonardo’ reveals how vested interests became all-important, and the truth secondary.”
“The story of the Salvator Mundi is a fascinating dark fairy tale,” director Koefoed said in a statement to TheWrap. “It merges the love of art, money and power in such an explosive way.”
The film is co-produced by Mantaray Film in association with Danish Film Institute, Nordic Film and TV Fund, Swedish Film Institute, Hot Docs Partners, Nika Media, Mitten Media and Alba Collis.