Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

Art can be beautiful, shocking, moving or novel. It can function as a historical record or signal future changes in how we view the world. But it has never been a commodity, an investment, a future or a stock to be leveraged. That is until its steadily rising value proved irresistible to investors, many of whom know “the price of everything… but the value of nothing.”

The Price of Everything is the title of a fascinating new documentary that takes us behind the scenes of the monetary side of fine art. It talks with curators, collectors, historians, critics, dealers and auctioneers… people trying to determine — or change — the perceived value of a work of art. And it talks to the artists themselves who either embrace or reject the Long Game.

It’s written and directed by award-wininng American filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn, best known for the Oscar-nominated My Architect.

The Price of Everything showed at Hot Docs 18 in the spring and is now opening in theatres in Toronto.

I spoke with Nathaniel, via telephone, from CIUT 89.5 FM.