NEW YORK, NY.- Film Forum will present the US theatrical premiere of Pascal Bonitzer’s Auction, starring Alex Lutz and Léa Drucker, on Wednesday, October 29.

When star Parisian auctioneer André (Lutz) learns that a long-lost Egon Schiele painting looted by Nazis is hanging in a small town worker’s home, he pays a visit and verifies its authenticity… as well as its iniquitous wartime provenance. A race to navigate the thorny art world collides with a triangle of players including André’s mendacious intern, his savvy ex-wife/art appraiser (Drucker), and the earnest worker caught unawares in a moral dilemma. Bonitzer—a former Cahiers du Cinéma critic and screenwriter for André Téchiné, Jacques Rivette, Raoul Peck, and others—gamely skewers the absurdities of the big money art market while converging historical and moral questions with welcome optimism.

Auction had its world premiere at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris and was featured at the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center. Bonitzer has written for 48 films, most recently co-writing Last Summer with Catherine Breillat and Benedetta with Paul Verhoeven. He has appeared in 30 films, directed 12, and received three César Award nominations for Best First Feature Film (Encore) and Best Original Screenplay (My Favorite Season and Les Inncents).

Alex Lutz's prolific acting career includes numerous roles in French comedy series opposite Jean Dujardin, Guillaume Canet, and Gilles Lellouche, as well as starring roles in Gaspar Noé’s Vortex, Hulu’s Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, and a Best Actor César Award–winning performance in Guy, which he also directed.

Top French actress Léa Drucker’s roles spanning television, theater (twice nominated for a Molière Award), and film include her Best Actress César Award-winning performance in Custody (Silver Lion-winner at the Venice Film Festival), Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer, and Lukas Dhont’s Close. Most recently, she starred in Laura Wandel's Adam's Sake and Dominik Moll's Case 137, both of which premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

“A profound exploration of the complex mechanisms of the so-called ‘art world,’ its established hierarchies, and the grander apparatuses of post-consumerist cosmopolitanism, replete with occasional tongue-in-cheek sardonicism.” – Ayeen Forootan, In Review Online

“A ripped-from-the-headlines ensemble drama set in the crosshairs of high art and high finance. A dexterous screenwriter, Bonitzer draws parallels between the cosmopolitan wheeler-dealer André and his shell-shocked client, all while building out a lively cast of characters…” – Ben Kroll, Variety