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For Immediate Release
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
WHODUNIT?
Miami International Film Festival, a Program of Miami Dade College’s MDCulture, Unveils 2015 Festival Poster Featuring Master of Suspense, Orson Welles, Strolling in Miami Beach
Director and Writer of Citizen Kane , History’s Most Critically Acclaimed Film, Snapped By Unknown Photographer In 1943
MiamiFF Invites the World to Help Identify the Snapper and Solve this Suspenseful Whodunit
Miami, FL — Miami International Film Festival (MiamiFF), a program of Miami Dade College’s MDCulture, proudly unveiled today the official poster for the 32nd edition, featuring legendary writer, producer and director Orson Welles strolling the Miami Beach boardwalk in 1943. Adding a layer of Welles-ian mystery, the photographer of this remarkable 70-year-old image is unknown. So whodunit? The festival invites the public to help solve this mystery as it gears up for its international film premieres and festival activities taking place March 6 – 15, 2015.
The image of Welles walking in Miami Beach is a multi-dimensional thrill-ride of potential descriptors for locals: pride, nostalgia, iconography, legends, celebrities, classics, vintage, and the beauty of our beaches. The Festival’s dynamic (remarkable is repeated too many times) slate of films and distinguished filmmakers featured in the past 32 years illustrates that Miami has long been a mecca for the greatest artists of our time, filing in for inspiration, collaboration and relaxation, following in the footsteps of the giants who have come before.
Says MiamiFF Executive Director Jaie Laplante, “When we found this photograph of Orson, it was like multiple lightning bolts of yes; yes, let’s all bow to his mastery; yes, Miami’s allure has always attracted the famous; and yes, it would be an honor for the Festival to associate this vintage image with Miami’s passion for the arts and quality films.”
Renewed interest in Welles’ career and remarkable body of work – over an acclaimed theater, television and radio career, plus an unparalleled feature film slate that includes Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Othello, Touch of Evil, The Trial and Chimes of Midnight – has surged of late. In Spring 2015, documentarian Chuck Workman is releasing Magician: The Astonishing Life And Work of Orson Welles, featuring pristine film clips and behind the scenes video of the artist’s entire career.
And in May 2015, Welles’s last unfinished film, The Other Side of the Wind, will finally be released after four decades of behind the scenes drama; a film which cinema buffs consider to be the most famous movie never released. A movie within a movie, The Other Side of the Wind chronicles the comeback attempt of an aging maverick director played by John Huston, with a supporting cast including Susan Strasberg, Lilli Palmer, and Dennis Hopper, with Peter Bogdanovich playing an up-and-coming director. While Welles obsessively worked on the film during the last 15 years of his life, successfully assembling 45 minutes of edited work print, original producer Frank Marshall and Peter Bogdanovich will finally finish cutting the film based upon Welles’s own notes, utilizing over 1,000 canisters of impeccably directed film Welles left in Paris before his death in 1985. The blessing for Marshall and Bogdanovich to do so finally earned Welles’ heirs permission when producers successfully argued that the film’s release would properly celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Welles’ birth.
 For membership opportunities or more information about MiamiFF, please visit www.miff2020.wpengine.comor call 305-237-FILM(3456). The Festival is the only major film festival event housed within a college or university.
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About Miami International Film Festival
Celebrating its 32nd anniversary March 6 – 15, 2015, MiamiFF is considered the preeminent film festival for showcasing Ibero-American cinema in the U.S., and a major launch pad for all international and documentary cinema. The annual Festival, produced and presented by Miami Dade College, attracts more than 60,000 audience members and more than 400 filmmakers, producers, talent and industry professionals. It is the only major festival housed within a college or university. In the last five years, the Festival has screened films from more than 60 countries, including 300 World, International, North American, U.S. and East Coast Premieres. MiamiFF’s special focus on Ibero-American cinema has made the Festival a natural gateway for the discovery of new talent from this diverse territory. The Festival also offers unparalleled educational opportunities to film students and the community at large. Major sponsors of the 2015 Festival include Knight Foundation, Lexus and Miami-Dade County. For more information, visit www.miff2020.wpengine.com or call 305-237-FILM (3456).
About MDCulture
MDCulture is the Cultural Affairs Department of Miami Dade College (MDC). Comprising the Miami Book Fair International, Miami International Film Festival, Tower Theater, the Center for Literature and Theatre, Koubek Center, Freedom Tower, MDC Live Arts and MDC Galleries and Museum of Art + Design, MDCulture is committed to providing everyone the opportunity to come in contact with innovative thinkers, creators and tradition bearers from around the world. With each presentation, MDCulture offers a bridge between cultures and ideas, creating new opportunities for the increasingly diverse population of Miami to come together through shared live arts experiences. For more information, visit www.mdculture.org.
MDC Contacts:
Tere Estorino, +1 305-237-3949, testorin@mdc.edu
Sue Arrowsmith, +1 305-237-3710, sue.arrowsmith@mdc.edu
Alejandro Rios, +1 305-237-7482, arios1@mdc.edu |
