Hot Picks: The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain

There have been countless documentaries about the world’s most famous scientist, Albert Einstein, but not many people have heard the bizarre story of the disappearance of his brain.

Espresso Media International’s latest project, The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain, commissioned by Documentary Channel, is created by Canada-based Frequent Flyer Films.

The film tells the story of chief pathologist Dr Thomas Stoltz Harvey, who stole Einstein’s brain while performing an autopsy on him in 1955, after striking a deal with Einstein’s estate to safeguard the brain for science – against his family’s wishes.

Stoltz Harvey cut the brain into 240 pieces, which he hid in basements, car trunks and cardboard boxes for half a century.

A first-time partnership between Espresso and Frequent Flyer, the “stranger-than-fiction saga” is among Espresso’s “quirkier” documentaries, says the distributor’s marketing and acquisitions executive, Georgia Walters.

The story includes the “strange twists and turns in the life of the professor who thought he could crack the secrets of a genius”, and looks at where the brain is now. It is told through archive material, interviews with those who knew Harvey best and rare access to the professor’s own recordings.

Espresso managing director David Hooper expects the film to find an audience across several territories and attract “interest from the VoD streamers and possibly some of the cable or satellite themed channels”.

He says: “Whether in the UK, Canada, Japan or China, everybody knows something about Einstein. They would predominantly know the background story, but not lots of the intimate stories about him.”

Walters says the show’s blend of history and science will give it a cross-genre appeal, allowing it to lead Espresso’s science and space slate – as well as catering to broadcasters’ desire for human-interest content about well-known historical figures.

The film is currently in post and will launch to buyers at Mipcom.