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Making Movies

Orson Welles Masterclass

To mark 20 years since his death, Making Movies presents a long overdue guide to one of cinema's enduring masters: Orson Welles.

WHO IS HE?
With Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Orson Welles became one of the most revered directors in Hollywood history. The cruel irony was that Welles' career was ruined after only his second film; Ambersons went over budget and he spent the rest of his career accepting acting work and commercials to finance the films he wanted to make.

WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
Welles' films lost money and his reputation came under bitter attack but he persevered. In 1975, in spite of all his box-office failures, he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award; in 1984, the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honour, the D.W. Griffith Award. Citizen Kane, directed when he was only 23, is repeatedly voted the best film of all time by the AFI.











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