Premiere of "La banda Picasso", by Fernando Colomo

Filmed in French and set principally in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, La banda Picasso is a caper comedy about a burglary that is based on real characters and events. Directed by Madrid-born film maker Fernando Colomo (Los Años Bárbaros, Al Sur de Granada, Rivales), the film tells the story of the robbery of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum, Paris, in 1911, that led to the arrest of Pablo Picasso and his friend Guillaume Apollinaire as the principal suspects. It would appear, however, that the real culprit was an old friend of theirs.
 

The mainly French cast features Ignacio Mateos in the role of the renowned Malaga-born artist and Jordi Vilches, from Girona, in the role of painter and sculptor Manolo Hugué.
 

The film, then, describes a little-known chapter in the life of Pablo Picasso, an artist with strong ties to the city of Barcelona, where he lived during his formative years, and where he maintained an enduring relationship that would culminate in the foundation of the museum that bears his name.