The Portuguese language edition of Catherine L. Benamou’s book It’s All True: Orson Welles’s Pan-American Odyssey will fittingly be launched at a conference at the Cinemateca Brasileira in São Paulo, Brazil, on April 8.
The conference is part of the 30o É Tudo Verdade – Festival Internacional de Documentários, which will showcase 85 productions from 30 countries on April 3-13 in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Benamou’s exhaustively researched book was first published by University of California Press in 2007. It documents Orson Welles ill-fated trek to Brazil to shoot a documentary at the behest of the U.S. government in 1942. The film was shelved by the studio and contributed to Welles’ dismissal from RKO Pictures. The Portuguese edition has been published by Editora UNESP of Brazil.
“I always dreamed of the day when my book would be available to those who participated in my research, and to the wider community that was so supportive of Welles’ efforts in 1942,” Benamou told Wellesnet. “I am very grateful to Carlos Augusto Calil, who spearheaded this effort, to UNESP and to the translator, Fernando Santos, for the beautiful edition of It’s All True: A Odisseia Pan-Americana de Orson Welles.”
Benamou added a new foreword with updates on the preservation effort of the footage by Paramount Pictures.
The Portuguese language edition of It’s All True: Orson Welles’s Pan-American Odyssey is available online from the publisher at https://editoraunesp.com.br/catalogo/9786557111482,it%E2%80%99s-all-true
Benamou was an associate producer and senior researcher on the 1993 documentary It’s All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles. She is a professor of Film & Media Studies at the University of California at Irvine and a former associate professor at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
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