The Power of Restitution: The Spoils

Join us for a special screening of the acclaimed documentary The Spoils, directed by Canadian filmmaker Jamie Kastner, followed by a live Q&A exploring the urgent and evolving global movement for art restitution.

The Spoils traces the extraordinary story of Max Stern, the German Jewish art dealer who fled Nazi persecution, rebuilt his life in Montréal and became one of Canada’s most influential champions of modern art. Stern’s legacy extends beyond collecting and promoting artists such as Emily Carr, Jean Paul Riopelle and E. J. Hughes to a decades long effort to confront the injustices of Nazi era art theft. Through the ongoing work of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project, his name has become synonymous with accountability, recovery and ethical responsibility in global art restitution.

Through rare archival footage and intimate interviews, the film reveals how Stern’s unfinished fight now sits at the heart of contemporary debates on repatriation, decolonizing museums, restorative justice, shifting norms and the power of international law.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Clarence Epstein, President of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation and Head of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project; Lou-Ann Neel, Kwakwaka’wakw artist and former Head of the Indigenous Collections and Repatriations Department at the Royal BC Museum, Victoria; and Eva Respini, Interim Co-CEO & Curator at Large at the Vancouver Art Gallery, offering expert insight into the progress and challenges shaping restitution efforts today.

Tickets: Free, registration required

Doors open: 5:30 pm

Presentation begins: 6:00 pm

A collaborative presentation of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver International Film Festival, Canadian Friends of Hebrew University, Jewish Film Festival, and Holocaust Education Centre.

Co-Presented with