A.K.A. Birdseye on AllMovie

A world famous thief's disappearance and assumed murder set the scene for co-directors Stephen Beckner and Michael Huber's feature film debut in the detective film/media satire A.K.A. Birdseye. Two hapless residents of Colorado, Heidi Logan (Amy Hathaway) and Trent Doone (Johnny Whitworth), somehow manage to track down and kidnap Urs Vogelaug (Stefan Kurt), a bizarre performance artist who uses the name Birdseye when committing his fabulously extravagant robberies. Hot on their trail is Sheriff Nolan Sharpless (Fred Ward), who eventually traps the kidnappers at the Denver Airport, but loses Birdseye, who was apparently locked in a suitcase. The thief is initially presumed dead, but is later identified as the chief suspect in a string of robberies throughout Colorado. Meanwhile, the news media seizes upon the story and make a spectacle out of it, much to the chagrin of Sharpless, who has begun tracking Birdseye with the assistance of his son, Ben (Fred Koehler). As the media stretches and distorts the truth, Sharpless starts to lose sight of his investigation, as well as his own sense of reality. A.K.A. Birdseye was chosen as an official selection to the 2002 Locarno International Film Festival.