Coming Soon
F FOR FAKE
1973
Director
Orson Welles
Starring
Orson Welles
Oja Kodar
Elmyr de Hory
Clifford Irving
Runtime
89 minutes
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THE TEN PILLARS OF BEACON: MONTAGE
What kind of magic happens when two images talk to each other? Montage can be thought of as a trick. By placing two shots next to each other with a cut, we can be fooled into a lot of things. It happens in the news when they use shots of protests from other times and places to emphasize the wickedness of the left. Sometimes a film will use archival footage of a real event and place it next to actors portraying people from that time to emphasize the reality which they’re referencing. In Lev Kuleshov’s famous experiment, a shot of a man staring straight ahead placed next to other objects or things (food, a grave and a woman) makes his expression read differently each time (hungry, sad, or lustful). F FOR FAKE is a construction reveling in its own deception and the particular duplicity of an editor.
In F FOR FAKE, a free-form sort-of documentary by Orson Welles, the legendary filmmaker (and self-described charlatan) gleefully reengages with the central preoccupation of his career: the tenuous lines between illusion and truth, art and lies. Beginning with portraits of the world- renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his equally devious biographer, Clifford Irving, Welles embarks on a dizzying journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes—not the least of whom is Welles himself. Charming and inventive, F FOR FAKE is an inspired prank, a clever examination of the essential duplicity of cinema, and a soaring tribute to the power of art.
What kind of magic happens when two images talk to each other? Montage can be thought of as a trick. By placing two shots next to each other with a cut, we can be fooled into a lot of things. It happens in the news when they use shots of protests from other times and places to emphasize the wickedness of the left. Sometimes a film will use archival footage of a real event and place it next to actors portraying people from that time to emphasize the reality which they’re referencing. In Lev Kuleshov’s famous experiment, a shot of a man staring straight ahead placed next to other objects or things (food, a grave and a woman) makes his expression read differently each time (hungry, sad, or lustful). F FOR FAKE is a construction reveling in its own deception and the particular duplicity of an editor.
In F FOR FAKE, a free-form sort-of documentary by Orson Welles, the legendary filmmaker (and self-described charlatan) gleefully reengages with the central preoccupation of his career: the tenuous lines between illusion and truth, art and lies. Beginning with portraits of the world- renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his equally devious biographer, Clifford Irving, Welles embarks on a dizzying journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes—not the least of whom is Welles himself. Charming and inventive, F FOR FAKE is an inspired prank, a clever examination of the essential duplicity of cinema, and a soaring tribute to the power of art.
Part of the program
THE TEN PILLARS OF BEACON: CELEBRATING OUR FIFTH ANNIVERSARY