Without telling their stories, these artists die...

The Russian Army invaded Czechoslovakia in August of 1968, around the same time that a young lawyer from Chicago had befriended a community of Czech artists. The Russian occupiers cut off one of the most vital steps in their artistic process: sharing their work. Without the ability to show their art, or have anything written about them for the outside world, they ceased to exist in a sense. This young American knew that he could not sit idly by and watch the Russians slowly snuff out an entire generation of Czech artists.

He used his family as cover to smuggle this censored artwork out of the country. He rolled up paintings and covered sculptures in newspaper and packed them in his kids' suitcases. He joked with customs officials to avoid suspicion, and sold many of the pieces straight out of the office where he was clerking: The Supreme Court of the United States. He would take the money and purchase art supplies to take back to these artists stuck behind the Iron Curtain, so they could continue their rebellion - with paint brushes.

When he brought the art back to Chicago, he hung one of the paintings on my bedroom wall, because the smuggler was my dad. It wasn’t until I was 12, and the Berlin Wall fell, that I started to realize what we had been doing. The true importance and gravity wouldn't fully sink in until years later.

Sadly, history is repeating itself and Russia is once again imposing it's military will against a sovereign nation. It is imperative to tell the stories of these European rebels and how they fought back against their oppressors. By sharing their story, we might remind the world that a country can regain its independence through art.

My sister and I are making a film, based on true events and our father's life, about adult siblings that come home to care for their ailing father. While there, they uncover that he was an international art smuggler, and helped various real Czech artists survive The Cold War until their countries' liberation in 1989 - and may have been a catalyst for their rebellion.

A person's legacy dies after their story stops being told. The generation of artists that are highlighted in the film are all but dead. My father made sure their art lives on, but the gauntlet has fallen to us to make sure their story does as well. When the evils of the world are back, we all need to be reminded that the artistic bravery of a few were enough to spark one of only two bloodless revolutions in the history of mankind. With art, and love. And a little help from a US Supreme Court clerk.

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Please check out our short film proof-of-concept that we shot on location in Montana, and help us get the feature film version made! Just a small donation will go a long way! Thank you.