Happy Media Monday! CF is pleased to announce a new film project, once again tapping into Orson Welles’ genius. In the early 1970’s, Welles travelled to Ibiza, a small island in Spain. He was making a film to eventually be called F For Fake, involving a number of fakers, from to Elmyr de Hory – widely regarded as the best art forger of our time – to his biographer Clifford Irving (himself a fake), to Orson Welles himself. The film is a masterpiece of film editing, and in the middle of the chaos is young twenty-something Mark Forgy. Mark lived with Elmyr as friend, protégé, and assistant for years, up until his death in 1976. Elmyr bequeathed his collection of paintings to Mark, who brought them back to the U.S.
Earlier this year, Francisco reached out to Mark Forgy, and the two began an instant friendship and exchange of ideas about Elmyr and art. From these emails and phone conversations, an idea for a film project emerged – one that goes beyond F For Fake to examine the complications of Welles’ film, the art market, and the work of Elmyr, overlaying these questions in a kind of fugue. Indeed, the story of Elmyr is still relevant and popular, as people have begun to produce fake fakes, which they purport were executed by Elmyr.
Seeing how tangled this web is, we at CF were happy to begin filming this project in October in MN, when Francisco was at Winona State University giving a talk on film, which included discussion of F For Franco and led into F For Fake. This short film gives you a brief intro to F For Fake, Orson, Mark, and Elmyr. Enjoy!
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