The panel The (Second) Italian Job: Stolen – Heist of the Century – an Italian Shooting Case History took place today during the 11th edition of MIA | Mercato Internazionale dell’Audiovisivo. The event brought together directors, producers, and industry professionals to discuss the making of Netflix’s new title, co-produced by Amblin Documentary.
Following the success of Vatican Girl, whose footage premiered worldwide at MIA Doc, producer Chiara Messineo and director Mark Lewis reunited for Stolen – Heist of the Century. The docuseries blends dramatic reconstruction with documentary storytelling, creating an immersive narrative approach.
Mark Lewis explained: “As with Vatican Girl, both the documentary and the dramatic elements are equally important. This story, however, had no archival material; we had to recreate everything from the narrative”.
The discussion explored the project’s creative and production challenges. Davide Valentini noted: “Being involved both as a production service and as an executive production was a very important experience for EiE Film”.
Chiara Messineo added: “The hardest part was gaining the trust of Leonardo (Notarbartolo, ed.) and his wife. In general, when conducting interviews, it is always essential to make the interviewee feel comfortable and build a relationship of trust”.
Meanwhile, Paolo Manera highlighted the logistical obstacles: “It is very difficult in our country to build a community of professionals. In this project, there was great collaboration among all the parties involved. Part of the shooting took place inside an abandoned building owned by Poste Italiane and Ferrovie dello Stato; it was difficult to obtain permission to film, but in the end we managed to have the doors opened for us”
In conclusion, the panel demonstrated how close cooperation between Italian and British professionals can inspire new models of international production, strengthening the presence of Italian factual content on global streaming platforms.
