Orson Welles explores cinematic reality and artistic forgery in F FOR FAKE
F FOR FAKE (Orson Welles, 1976)
Nitehawk Cinema
136 Metropolitan Ave. between Berry St. & Wythe Ave.
April 20-21, 12 noon
718-384-3980
www.nitehawkcinema.com
Orson Welles plays a masterful cinematic magician in the riotous F for Fake, a pseudo-documentary (or is it all true?) about art fakes and reality. Exploring slyly edited narratives involving art forger Elmyr de Hory, writer Clifford Irving, Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso, and reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, the iconoclastic auteur is joined by longtime companion Oja Kodar and a cast of familiar faces in a fun ride that will leave viewers baffled — and thoroughly entertained. Welles manipulates the audience — and the process of filmmaking — with tongue firmly planted in cheek as he also references his own controversial legacy with nods to such classics as Citizen Kane and The Third Man. It’s both a love letter to the art of filmmaking as well as a warning to not always believe what you see, whether in books, on canvas, or, of course, at the movies. F for Fake is screening April 20 & 21 at noon as part of the new Nitehawk Cinema monthly series “Art Seen,” which continues May 18-19 with Ben Shapiro’s Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters and June 22-23 with The Cool School and Paul McCarthy’s The Black and White Tapes. Each program will begin with an “Artist Film Club” presentation that includes one video from the 2013 Moving Image Art Fair.