Directed by Orson Welles | United States, France, Iran | 122 min

Orson Welles’ final film, The Other Side of the Wind, has a certain notoriety: messy and ambitious, shot over a six-year period between 1970-1976 with his partner Oja Kodar, the sprawling production was never completed. Three decades after Welles’ death and an extended legal battle, 100 hours of footage was retrieved from a Paris vault and painstakingly reconstructed, led by Welles’ friend and collaborator, director Peter Bogdanovich. Finally, the film was released posthumously as a ‘complete’ work via Netflix in 2018. The film’s self-reflexive structure follows the last day in the life of an aging Hollywood director Jake Hannaford (played by John Huston), set at his 70th birthday party. A fully hybrid work, The Other Side of the Wind is shot in a multi-camera documentary style, combining colour and monochrome across varied film formats. Interviews suggest that Welles intended the film as a satire of European art cinema and New Hollywood aesthetics. For contemporary viewers, it’s an intriguing project and production history that casts new light on Welles’ entire corpus.

In collaboration with the University of Calgary's Film Department

Part of our Final Frames Series.

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In the spirit of respect, reciprocity and truth, we honour and acknowledge that this screening takes place on Moh’kinsstis and the traditional Treaty 7 territory, as well as the oral practices of the Blackfoot confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, Piikani as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina nations. We acknowledge that this territory is home to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta District 6. Finally, we acknowledge all Nations, Indigenous and non, who live, work and play, as well as help steward this land, honour and celebrate this territory.