The University of Michigan – home to five impressive collections of Orson Welles materials – will honor the late filmmaker with movie screenings and a two-day symposium in early June.
Wellespring: A Centenary Celebration of the Inexhaustible Inspiration of Orson Welles is built around an impressive June 8-9 symposium featuring Welles’ longtime companion Oja Kodar; Welles scholar Catherine Benamou; Stefan Droessler, curator, Munich Film Museum; Issa Clubb, producer, Criterion Collection; Christopher Wilson, who donated his father Richard Wilson’s papers to U-M; authors James Naremore and Jonathan Rosenbaum; documentarian Chuck Workman and more.
Film screenings are planned June 7-10 and include showings of footage of Welles’ unfinished hosted by Droessler.
Further information may be found on the university’s website. The full June 7-10 schedule is as follows:
SYMPOSIUM
Monday, June 8
Location: Hatcher Graduate Library, Gallery
913 South University Ave., Ann Arbor
1 p.m.: Opening remarks by Catherine Benamou, associate professor in Film & Media Studies, University of California-Irvine. Benamou was instrumental in the acquisition of the various Welles materials by U-M Library.
1:30 p.m.: Donors and the Archive: Christopher Wilson
Christopher Wilson, who donated his father Richard Wilson’s papers to U-M, will discuss his father’s longtime friendship and professional relationship with Welles and his own relationship with his father.
3 p.m.:Donors and the Archive: Oja Kodar
Oja Kodar shares her memories of her life with Orson Welles and the importance of creating an archive dedicated to his work.
4:30 p.m.: Rededication Ceremony
We celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Orson Welles-Oja Kodar Collection and the Richard Wilson-Orson Welles Collection.
Tuesday, June 9
Location: Hatcher Graduate Library, Gallery
913 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor
10 a.m.: Scholarship and the Archive
This panel, consisting of two generations of scholars, presents work that originated from research done within the various Welles collections at U-M Library.
Panelists: Catherine Benamou, associate professor, University of California-Irvine; James Naremore, professor emeritus, Indiana University; Brad Schwartz, historian and author; Vince Longo, graduate student, U-M; Moderator: Matthew Solomon, associate professor, U-M
2:30 p.m.: Legacy and the Archive
This panel discusses how the legacy of Orson Welles has been shaped in various media thirty years after his death.
Panelists: Chuck Workman, filmmaker and director of Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles; Jonathan Rosenbaum, critic emeritus from Chicago Reader, author of Discovering Orson Welles; Stefan Droessler, curator, Munich Film Museum; Issa Clubb, producer, Criterion Collection; Panelist and moderator: Lawrence Goldstein, professor, U-M
SCREENINGS
Part of Cinetopia International Film Festival; tickets required
Sunday, June 7
Location: Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Film Theater
5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit
1 p.m.: Staged reading of Too Much Johnson
This 1938 silent comedy was Welles’ first professional film, and was not publicly screened. It wasn’t intended to stand alone; he planned to mix live action with the film for a Mercury Theatre stage presentation. Recent U-M Screen Arts and Cultures alumnus Vincent Longo, who “rediscovered” Welles’ original script for Too Much Johnson, will narrate the screening/reading with a brief historical introduction. Featuring the Cinetopia Players.
4 p.m.: Chimes at Midnight, also known as Falstaff (Orson Welles, 1965)
Perhaps Welles’ most-acclaimed independent production, the director stars as Falstaff in a story that skillfully merges the character’s roles in several Shakespeare plays. With a tour-de-force battle sequence and a cast that includes Jeanne Moreau, John Gielgud, and Margaret Rutherford. Welles considered this his favorite of his own films.
Monday, June 8
Location: Michigan Theater
603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor
4 p.m.: The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)
Welles’ follow-up to Citizen Kane is an adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s novel about an aristocratic family’s slow decline in the early 20th century. The cast includes Tim Holt, Anne Baxter, and Mercury Theater stalwarts Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorhead, with Welles heard as the narrator.
7 p.m.: The Unknown Orson Welles, Program 1
Stefan Droessler, curator, Munich Film Museum, presents a rare opportunity to see excerpts from some of Welles’ unfinished films. Included are: The Deep, Moby Dick (Rehearsed), The Other Side of the Wind, The Dreamers, and The Magic Show.
9:40 p.m.: Mr. Arkadin, also known as Confidential Report (Orson Welles, 1955)
This film tells the story of an elusive billionaire who hires an American smuggler to investigate his past, leading to a dizzying descent into a cold-war European landscape.
Tuesday, June 9
Location: Michigan Theater
603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor
4 p.m.: Othello (Orson Welles, 1952)
This is Welles’ second filmed adaptation of Shakespeare and his first truly independent production. The international cast includes the director’s early mentors Micheal MacLiammoir and Hilton Edwards. Shot on stunning European locations over four years on a miniscule budget, Welles’ bravura performance and editing propelled Othello to the 1952 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix.
7 p.m.: The Unknown Orson Welles, Program 2
View a second set of unfinished or little-known work by Welles along with a presentation by Stefan Droessler, curator, Munich Film Museum. This package concentrates on works for television and features: Sketch Book, Fountain of Youth, Viva Italia, London.
9:30 p.m.: Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
This Film Noir masterpiece stars Orson Welles as an aging, corrupt police detective in a sleazy Texas border town. An unforgettable combination of stunning camerawork, vivid performances, and dynamic storytelling show what Welles could do when he was in charge of the “expensive paint box” of a Hollywood studio. Charlton Heston stars, and the cast also features Janet Leigh and Welles associates like Joseph Cotten and Marlene Dietrich.
Wednesday, June 10
Location: Michigan Theater
603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor
4 p.m.: It’s All True: Based on An Unfinished Film By Orson Welles (Welles, Wilson, Krohn, Meisel, 1993)
Introduction and Q&A with Associate Producer Catherine Benamou. Both a documentary and a unique exercise in film restoration, It’s All True tells the complex story of Orson Welles’ ill-fated attempts to make an anthology film about the life and culture of South America and concludes with a reconstruction of one of Welles’ unfinished segments, edited together from rediscovered original footage.
7 p.m.: Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (Chuck Workman, 2014)
Introduction and Q&A with Director Chuck Workman. This film looks at the remarkable genius of Orson Welles on the eve of his centenary — the enigma of his career as a Hollywood star, a Hollywood director (for some a Hollywood failure), and a crucially important independent filmmaker.
9:30 p.m.: F for Fake (Orson Welles, 1973)
Welles’s playful take on the documentary intertwines the story of art forger Elmyr de Hory and bogus Howard Hughes biographer Clifford Irving with his own magical flourishes. His last directorial effort released during his lifetime, this intriguing effort has received increasing critical acclaim in recent years. With appearances by Oja Kodar, Joseph Cotten, and other Welles associates.
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