Matthew Asprey Gear will revive his popular 12-week online course on the career of Orson Welles next month.
The Other Side of the Shadow classes begin on September 1 and will continue on Sundays at 9 a.m. PT or noon ET in North America and 5 p.m. UK time or 6pm CET. The course fee is $160 and class size is limited. Further details can be found at www.matthewaspreygear.com
Gear, author of At the End of the Street in the Shadow: Orson Welles and the City, will give an original 50-minute lecture presentation on a set film and topic and then lead an in-depth group discussion. All students will have a chance to contribute.
“I have been running this online course repeatedly since 2020 and continue to sign up groups of enthusiastic students. Some participants come to the course already committed Orson Welles fans, while others are relatively new to the work. That works fine. Everybody is welcome,” Gear told Wellesnet.
The course is not a conventional, chronological exploration. Welles’ films and television work are discussed in a program that most usefully illustrates (1) his style and methods; (2) his imaginative world; (3) his engagement with classic literature; and (4) his perspective on America.
“Across the 12 weeks we will study most of Welles’ films, as well as explore the broader sweep of his career in radio, theatre, and television,” Gear said.
Gear will share some of the discoveries he has made combing through Welles archives in Turin, Italy; Munich, Germany; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Bloomington, Indiana.
“My aim is that everyone comes away with a deeper appreciation of this complicated and fascinating 20th Century master,” he said.
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