U-M Library to host Orson Welles symposium, film screenings at Cinetopia International Film Festival

June 4, 2015
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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: Symposium: 1-5 p.m. June 8 and 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. June 9. Cinetopia film screenings: varied times, June 7-10.

EVENT: “Wellespring: A Centenary Celebration of the Inexhaustible Inspiration of Orson Welles”

Maverick filmmaker and actor Orson Welles, director of what many consider the greatest film of all time, “Citizen Kane,” is the subject of this symposium in celebration of his centenary. Family members, colleagues, scholars, archivists and students will come together to discuss his lasting impact and to showcase the six Welles archive collections housed within the U-M Library’s Special Collections.

To kick off the series of Cinetopia-related Orson Welles events, the U-M Library will host a live reading of “Too Much Johnson,” a 1938 silent comedy that was Welles’ first professional film, at the Detroit Institute of Arts June 7. The day will also include a screening of his 1965 film “Chimes at Midnight,” as well as a special reading of portions from Orson Welles’ memoir that was recently added to the U-M Library’s Special Collections.

As part of the symposium, participants Filip Jan Ramsza and Frank Marshall, who recently started an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to complete Welles’ final film, “The Other Side of the Wind,” will donate Orson Welles’ typewriter to U-M’s Welles collection, one of the largest archival collections of the late, great filmmaker, actor and broadcaster.

PLACE: The Gallery and Audubon Room at the U-M Hatcher Graduate Library, 920 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor. Film screenings will take place at the Michigan Theater, 603 East Liberty St., Ann Arbor, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit.

INFORMATION: All symposium sessions are free and open to the public, but attendees must purchase tickets to view Cinetopia films. Symposium and film screening schedules: myumi.ch/L1pqV. Video available at myumi.ch/Lqgvv.

MEDIA: For access to the film screenings, contact Sydney Hawkins, 734-615-8765, sydhawk@umich.edu.

SPONSORS: U-M Library, Department of Screen Arts & Cultures and Cinetopia International Film Festival. Additional sponsorship provided by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; Rackham Graduate School; Office of Research; Screen Arts & Cultures Screenwriting; Department of Communications; Department of American Culture; Department of English Language and Literature; Institute for the Humanities; School of Music, Theatre & Dance; and the American Music Institute.