Festival Predictions

2013 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Havana Marking’s Smash & Grab – The Story of the Pink Panthers

Published on November 21, 2012

British docu helmer Havana Marking broke into the film world via Sundance with the double prize winning (World Cinema Documentary Directing and Audience Awards) 2009 docu Afghan Star, three years later Havana Marking will preem Smash & Grab – The Story of the Pink Panthers at the IFDA and probably follow that up with the U.S premiere.

Gist: The Pink Panthers are the world’s most successful jewel thieves. With incredible unprecedented access, gang members Mike and Lela reveal the gang’s networks, history and human story. Playing out like a noir thriller and using cutting edge animation, the film keeps a Hollywood-style heist at its centre. We also follow the global police forces determined to stop them – with increasing success. But
beneath the glitz and excitement of the heists lie the dark truths of the illicit diamond trade and the war-shattered ruins of the Balkan states.

Production Co./Producers: Mike Lerner

Prediction: World Cinema Documentary Competition

U.S. Distributor : Rights Available

Related Topics:2013 Sundance Film Festival, Havana Marking, Smash & Grab - The Story of the Pink Panthers

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).