The British Film Institute has announced a major focus on the work of Orson Welles including a two-month season at BFI Southbank, a UK-wide theatrical rerelease of Touch of Evil, theatrical and DVD releases of the recent Chuck Workman documentary Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles and a DVD and limited edition Blu-ray release of the 1955 television series Around the World with Orson Welles.Coming July 1 to August 31 is Orson Welles: The Great Disruptor at BFI Southbank.
During July and August BFI Southbank will screen a comprehensive season of Welles’s work in both film and TV, much of it starring himself. Besides famous classics like his first feature Citizen Kane – often cited as the greatest movie ever made – The Magnificent Ambersons and The Lady from Shanghai, the season will offer audiences a chance to become acquainted with less familiar titles like The Trial, The Immortal Story and F for Fake.
It will also include three remarkable adaptations of Shakespeare: Macbeth, Othello and Chimes at Midnight, the latter compiled from five plays and considered by some to be a highpoint of Welles’ career. The season will be packed with rarities, including the recently discovered Too Much Johnson – filmed for an ambitious theatrical production two years before he made his feature debut – and six compilation programmes of rarities, featuring shorts, trailers, TV productions, theatrical adaptations, documentaries, and unfinished projects.
There will also be three accompanying talks by season curators Geoff Andrew and Ben Walters and from Welles biographer Simon Callow.
The season will feature extended runs of The Third Man, re-released by Studio Canal in a new 4K restoration in cinemas on 26 June and on DVD and Blu-ray on 20 July, the BFI’s re-release of Touch of Evil, and the BFI release of the documentary Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles.
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