The recent 4K restoration of F for Fake will have its North American premiere on Thursday, January 27, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
It will be shown alongside the 1965 documentary short Ganjineha-ye Gohar (The Crown Jewels of Iran). Director Ebrahim Golestan’s film, critical of Persian kings, was shown only to the Shah of Iran and banned thereafter. (The film showings will be repeated on Friday, February 4.)
In creating F for Fake, Welles reworked documentary material shot by Francois Reichenbach on noted art forger Elmyr De Houry and added footage of his own. Welles probed an art world populated by charlatans and experts. The 1973 movie was made during a break in the filming of The Other Side of the Wind.
The screenings are part of “To Save and Project: The 18th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation,” which showcases more than 60 newly preserved features and shorts from 19 countries. Proof of vaccination is required and ticket information can be found at moma.org.
The restored F for Fake was first shown at the Cannes Film Festival last summer.
Welles’ witty take on fakery and forgery was restored by Les Films de L’Astrophore and La Cinémathèque française in collaboration with Documentaire sur grand écran, the Cinémathèque suisse and the Audiovisual institute of Monaco, with the support of Hiventy and Neuflize OBC.
Restoration of both the image was undertaken by the Hiventy laboratory in France using the original negative and at L.E. Diapason Studio in Paris from the 35mm magnetic track.
Related content
‘Other Side of the Wind’ documentarian Morgan Neville: My North Star was ‘F for Fake’
Literary hoaxster Clifford Irving, subject of ‘F For Fake,’ dead at 87
F for Fake’ Blu-ray due out in October from Criterion
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