Stealing Magic [Tribeca Festival Review]

by Mike McGranaghan

Stealing Magic is a real-life thriller as entertaining as it is gripping. Director Matthew Testa’s documentary, which had its world premiere in the Spotlight Documentary section of the 2026 Tribeca Festival, deals with the subject of piracy in magic. Magicians all around the world write books on the topic and sell their illusions for others to use. Pirates come and steal that work, then sell it online at deep discounts. The problem has plagued the community for years, and the film follows an intrepid magician on his globe-spanning mission to take down one such piracy ring.

The problem begins with a website called Erdnase Magic Shop, named after S.W. Erdnase, the man who literally wrote the book on card tricks back in 1902. Whoever operates the site has been pilfering the work of magicians for years. Master illusionist Andi Gladwin is fed up. He leads a team of international colleagues to find out who runs Erdnase and to expose them. The trek takes them to Egypt, Paris, and other countries. Testa’s cameras follow along as they create a decoy package armed with a tracker so they can trace its path, hopefully into the hands of the culprit. Meetings with sketchy characters and a tense encounter at a shipping depot are part of the process.

Interspersed with the mystery are interview clips from notable magicians, including Penn & Teller, who discuss the profound impact piracy has had on their profession.

Stealing Magic is filled with jaw-dropping twists and turns that you could never predict in a million years. That includes apparent attempts at intimidation from Erdnase once Gladwin and team get too close. The team is not deterred. Late in the movie, they bring in an “ethical hacker” to dig online. What he finds is astonishing. Every minute of the documentary keeps you under its spell.

Aside from the whodunit aspect, the documentary really helps viewers understand the impact of magic piracy. It’s certainly not something I ever considered before. If that community is this vulnerable, others certainly are, too. Piracy has become a super-sophisticated operation, as we see here, making it easy for bad actors to earn a fast profit off the work of others. Stealing Magic illustrates why it’s vital for creators to fight back.

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