Matthew Asprey Gear, author of At the End of the Street in the Shadow: Orson Welles and the City, will offer a 12-week online course for serious fans of the late filmmaker, as well as newcomers to his work.
The Other Side of The Shadow: A New Look at Orson Welles will be limited to a maximum of 12 students via the Google Meet platform. Each week, Gear will provide a 50-minute multimedia lecture on a Welles film and topic and then lead an in-depth group discussion.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun as we dive deeply into the work of one of the 20th century’s greatest filmmakers,” Gear said. “My lectures will cover the obvious Welles classics — Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil, and Chimes at Midnight — but I’m also excited about the prospect of exploring some of the lesser-known films, TV programs, and unproduced scripts, including many works that have appeared posthumously and some that have yet to be published.”
All students will have a chance to contribute. The only weekly homework will be to watch a film (or two) in preparation for the session. Many of the films are available on YouTube. There will be no final exam or essay. This course is designed purely for enjoyment and stimulation.
Gear said he will share discoveries he has made by combing through the Welles archives in Turin, Munich, Michigan, and Indiana.
The cost is $120. and those interested should contact Gear at twelvemilereef@yahoo.com
He will be running two identical sessions each week to accommodate different international time zones. Choose whichever you prefer.
• American session: Sundays 3 p.m. PST/ 6 p.m. EST.
• European session: Mondays 7:30 p.m. GMT/ 8:30 p.m. CET.
The lecture portion of the session will be recorded and available for download for those unable to attend a live session and need to catch up.
Course outline
INTRODUCTION
Nov 22/Nov 23, 2020
Lecture 1: The Myths and the Man
[Preparatory viewing: Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (documentary, 2014)]
WELLES’ STYLE AND METHODS
Nov 29/Nov 30, 2020
Lecture 2: Orson and Film Noir
[The Lady from Shanghai (1947)]
Dec 6/Dec 7, 2020
Lecture 3: Inventing Independent Film
[Filming Othello (1978); Orson Welles: One Man Band (documentary, 1995)]
Dec 13/Dec 14, 2020
Lecture 4: The Essay Film
[F for Fake (1973); Portrait of Gina (TV special, 1958)]
Dec 20/Dec 21, 2020
Lecture 5: Return to Hollywood
[The Other Side of the Wind (1970-76/2018)]
[Holiday break]
WELLES’S WORLD
Jan 10/Jan 11, 2021
Lecture 6: Orson’s 19th Century: Dinesen, Conrad, and Melville
[The Immortal Story (1968); reading: The Dreamers screenplay (c. 1979)]
Jan 17/Jan 18, 2021
Lecture 7: Orson Across Europe
[Mr Arkadin (1955)]
Jan 24/Jan 25, 2021
Lecture 8: Orson’s Spain
[Around the World with Orson Welles: Pays Basque I (TV episode, 1955); In the Land of Don Quixote: Tempo di Flamenco (TV episode, 1964)]
WELLES AND LITERATURE
Jan 31/Feb 1, 2021
Lecture 9: Adaptation
[The Trial (1962)]
Feb 7/Feb 8, 2021
Lecture 10: Shakespeare
[Chimes at Midnight (1965)]
WELLES AND AMERICA
Feb 14/Feb 15, 2021
Lecture 11: Power in the Streets
[Touch of Evil (1958)]
Feb 21/Feb 22, 2021
Lecture 12: The Post-Lincoln Republic
[Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)]
In addition to At the End of the Street in the Shadow, Gear is the author of Moseby Confidential: Arthur Penn’s Night Moves and the Rise of Neo-Noir. He holds a PhD in Media Studies and has lectured on cinema and screenwriting at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He has taught contemporary cinema at the Edinburgh College of Art.
Gear specializes in researching Welles’ unfinished films and unproduced screenplays, which he has explored in archives around the world.
He has published articles on Welles in such publications as Bright Lights Film Journal, Senses of Cinema, and The Hemingway Review.
In 2018 he was awarded a Lewis-Reynolds-Smith Founders Fellowship by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation and Society to fund his Welles research in Italy.
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