About the Director
Joe Medeiros
Joe Medeiros is a writer/filmmaker and considered the leading authority on the theft of the Mona Lisa. Medeiros’ award-winning documentary Mona Lisa Is Missing has been screened at museums and theaters across the US and at film festivals in the North America, Europe and the Middle East. The film had its television premiere in January in France, Germany, Switzerland and Israel.
Medeiros has appeared on Raiders of the Lost Art for Ovation TV, Museum Secrets Revealed for the Smithsonian Channel and has been interviewed by MSNBC, NPR, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, Financial Times and other radio, television, and Internet outlets.
Medeiros began his career as an advertising copywriter. In 1988, he began working as a joke writer for Jay Leno and remained with Leno for 22 years -- 14 of which as head writer of the The Tonight Show.
His previous films are the award-winning Sailing the Star of India, Friends of Independence, Doors of Florence, and The Sailing Heritage Society. All of which can be seen on youtube. Mona Lisa Is Missing is his first feature documentary.
Mederios and his wife, producer Justine Mestichelli Medeiros, are currently working on two short documentaries -- one about Calfironia's Salton Sea and another about the procession tradition of St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church in Los Angeles
Juoe and Justine Medeiros live in Los Angeles. They have two adult children and three granddogs.
E-Mail: info@monalisamissing.com