Simon Backes was born in 1972 in France. He studied film direction at the INSAS film school in Brussels. He has written and directed several short and medium-length documentaries (Michel Journiac, la Philosophie dans le Boudin, 1994 ; The Fall of the Roman Empire, 2003) as well as fiction films (The Last Trick, 1999 ; Welcome in Utopia, 2001). He has co-directed, with Belgian artist Loïc Vanderstichelen, a dozen of “fake fiction” films that have been screened in festivals and art galleries in Brussels, Paris, and Berlin (Dood in Brugge / Death in Bruges, 2002 ; Het Onmogelijke Onderzoek /The Investigation, 2004 ; Grégoire House, 2005 …). Stolen Art, a private collection is his first feature-length documentary.