UPDATED 8/30: The Bertha DocHouse has extended American: An Odyssey to 1947‘s run in London by an extra week to September 7. There will also be a special screening followed by a Q&A session there on September 17.
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American: An Odyssey to 1947 will be screened in New York City, as well as London, before its North American video-on-demand release next month.
Filmmaker Danny Wu told Wellesnet that his documentary on Orson Welles and U.S. politics during the 1930s and ’40s will be screened four times daily at Cinema Village in New York’s Greenwich Village on September 8-14. It will also have a one- week run at the prestigious Bertha DocHouse in London beginning August 25.
At the September 8 showing at 6 p.m., some of American‘s cast and crew will take part in a Q&A, Wu said.
Last week, Gravitas Ventures announced it had acquired the North American rights to American: An Odyssey to 1947. Written, directed and produced by Wu, the documentary centers on Welles’ politics and the changing landscape of U.S. politics from FDR’s New Deal in the early 1930s to the Hollywood Blacklist of the late ’40s. Gravitas plans to issue the film on video-on-demand on September 12, 2023.
American features a collection of stories leading to the year 1947, one of which delving into Welles’ crusade to bring to justice the police officer who blinded Black serviceman Isaac Woodard. In addition to talking to Woodard’s relatives, Wu interviewed film scholars and authors Simon Callow, Harlon Lebo, Richard France, Catherine Benamou, Todd Tarbox, James Naremore, and the late Robert Carringer.
The film has had a successful festival tour, including an international premiere at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, It’s All True International Documentary Festival in Brazil, Austin Film Festival, and most recently at the Melbourne Documentary Festival.
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