From remote Cambodian villages to elite art institutions in New York, this 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.
The film features unprecedented access, including to “Blue Tiger,” a child-soldier-turned-looter now working to bring artifacts home, and to the international investigators who led to Latchford’s indictment. It also takes viewers behind-the-scenes as stolen pieces are returned to Cambodia, some arriving from New York’s Met Museum in July 2024.
