Mona Lisa Theft Documentary Coming to the Concord Free Public Library

The Mona Lisa was stolen? Surprisingly, yes – on August 21, 1911. And even more shocking – it was taken by a simple Italian immigrant, Vincenzo Peruggia, who hid it in his dingy tenement room in Paris for more than 2-1/2 years. How did he do it? Why did he do it? The answers to those questions and more are found in the award-winning documentary Mona Lisa Is Missing will be presented at a free screening at the Concord Free Public Library on Saturday, July 13th, 2024 at 2:00 PM followed by a Zoom Q&A with the filmmakers. Please register HERE.

Writer/director Joe Medeiros, former head writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Producer, Justine Mestichelli Medeiros spent more than six years working on the project, but their interest goes back much further than that. “I stumbled on the story in 1976,” said Joe Medeiros, “and I always wanted to make a fictional film about it, but could never get a handle on who the thief was, his character, his motives. Anything I wrote sounded made up.” Then in 2008, Medeiros discovered that Peruggia had an 84-year-old daughter, Celestina, and that she was alive in Italy. That’s when Justine Mestichelli Medeiros proposed to make Peruggia’s story as a documentary.

Medeiros, his producer-wife and their crew traveled to Dumenza, Italy to interview Celestina Peruggia. “She was a wonderful, charming woman,” said Justine Mestichelli Medeiros, “as familiar to me and Joe as my own Italian grandmother. She welcomed us into her home and shared what she knew about her father. We just fell in love with her.”

Unfortunately, Celestina really didn’t know much about her father because he died when she was a toddler and the Peruggia family, embarrassed by the theft, rarely spoke of it.

“But Celestina and I shared the same goal.” Joe Medeiros said, “We both wanted to know the truth about her father.” With the help of Celestina’s son Silvio and her daughter Graziella, the Medeiros’s and their team of researchers set out on an epic journey to discover everything there was to know about Vincenzo Peruggia and how a simple laborer was able to pull off a daring daylight robbery of one of the world’s greatest museums.

The journey took them to Paris where Peruggia had lived and worked, to Florence where he brought the painting, to the French and Italian archives where they waded through thousands of documents from the time of the theft, and ultimately to the truth, which they shared with Celestina Peruggia. “The film has cleared up many of the misconceptions about Peruggia and his crime,” said Justine Mestichelli Medeiros. “But we didn’t want it to be a dry, fact-filled history lesson. We wanted it to be enjoyable and fun to watch.” The critics agree. The Huffington Post crowned Mona Lisa is Missing one of the top ten of the “21 Gorgeous Documentaries Everyone Should Stream Right Now”(http://huff.to/1UaaxDi). Loren King of The Boston Globe said the film is “humorous, fast-paced, and entertaining.” The Daily Film Fix found it “touching... a mystery worth watching.” And The Austinist said, “It’s not just a historical doc. It’s funny.”

The Concord Free Library is located at 129 Main Street, Concord MA 01742. Admission is free, and the film is rated for all ages. Filmmakers Joe Medeiros and Justine Mestichelli Medeiros will be on hand via zoom to introduce the film and a follow-up Q&A. For information regarding the screening, visit the Concord Free Public Library’s website at concordlibrary.org, or telephone: 978.318.3300.

If you are interested in learning more about the theft of the Mona Lisa and speaking with Joe Medeiros and Justine Mestichelli Medeiros, contact Justine Mestichelli Medeiros at 818-585-8522; [email protected] to schedule an interview and provide a DVD or Vimeo link to Mona Lisa is Missing.

This program is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library.