As part of the accompanying programme of the exhibition The War They Live at Ukraine House in Denmark, a screening of the documentary Curated Theft by The Kyiv Independent will take place. The event is scheduled for 17 April and will continue the conversation about war, memory, and the loss of Ukraine’s cultural heritage, according to a post by Ukraine House in Denmark.
The film is dedicated to the investigation of one of the largest museum thefts in Europe since the Second World War. In autumn 2022, ahead of their withdrawal from Kherson, Russian forces removed thousands of artefacts from the Kherson Art Museum and the Kherson Regional History Museum. Among the stolen items were unique works of art and archaeological objects, including Scythian, Gothic, and Sarmatian gold.
Due to the lack of witnesses on the Ukrainian side and the opacity of information from Moscow, the case remains unresolved. In the film, the investigative team seeks to establish who organised the looting and where the stolen collections may currently be located.
Following the screening, a discussion will be held with the Kyiv Independent team. Head of war crimes investigations and reporter of the film, Yevheniya Motorevska, together with photo editor Iryna Hromotska, will share their experience of documenting the war — from reporting and photography to producing documentary films.