Con Man Confidential

As common as they are in literature and the movies, in real life there aren't many crooks who will agree to discuss their crimes publicly. In Con Man Confidential, four pathological liars talk candidly about their schemes, their victims and their motivations. It took director Alexander Adolph a couple of years to gain the trust of his subjects and to get unlimited access to their criminal files. Now, Torsten S., Marc Z., Peter G. en Jürgen H. explain how they led double lives for years. One of them lived like a king, gallivanting around Germany and writing bad checks everywhere he went; another posed as a high-ranking American military officer and organised an NATO security conference in that capacity. As much as the four stories may differ from one another, the swindlers all have one thing in common: they are masters in coming up with tall tales. But behind these exciting and sensational stories, they also share a hidden longing to be someone they are not. The manipulation of others automatically led to assuming another identity, and often, serious psychological problems were the result. Above all, the men were driven by a universal kind of greed: not for money, but for love and recognition. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)