Directed by Martin Gronemeyer • Documentary • 2021 • 52 minutes
There is a global network of tax-free storage facilities for valuable goods, catering to the super rich – and it's virtually unknown, until now. Freeports feature the highest security levels and confidential record keeping. And through their offshore legal status, they offer loopholes for tax savings, critics fear.
With broad access, the film takes a deep dive into the discreet world of high-security warehousing and takes a rare look behind the scenes of these extraordinary places.
Could this be a robbing network of tax havens, set up in broad daylight and right in the middle of our Western democracies?
Around the globe, a discreet new service is on the rise: the storage of precious art, wines, classic cars or gold bullion in secure customs warehouses often called freeports. While valuables are stored there, owners do not pay duties and sales taxes. "That is just temporary", the operators claim, insisting there is no story here. But critics from the realm of art and finance fear: freeports could serve as legal loopholes for tax avoidance and shadow business. With broad access to freeport operators and forwarders of the world's most precious artworks, the film takes a deep dive into the world of these ultra high security facilities.
Up Next in In the News
-
Taming The Garden
Directed by Salomé Jashi • Documentary • 2021 • 92 minutes
A powerful and anonymous man has developed an unusual hobby. He buys century-old trees, some as tall as 15-story buildings, from communities along the Georgian coast and has them excavated to collect them for his private garden. In order...
-
Devi
Directed by Subina Shrestha • Documentary • 2024 • 82 minutes
Devi is a rebel warrior, mother, and sexual violence survivor – for her, Nepal's Civil War did not end in 2006. As those in power try to erase rape from the history of the war, Devi has to battle her own demons before she can begin to...
-
From Ground Zero: Stories from Gaza
Directed by Rashid Masharawi • Documentary • 2025 • 113 minutes
From Ground Zero is a collection of short films initiated by Palestinian film-maker Rashid Masharawi, in response to the events following the attacks of 7 October 2023. The project brings together 22 filmmakers from Gaza, offering a...
