| Following the rise and fall of Orson Welles, while interweaving stories of diverse individuals amidst the backdrop of the Great Depression, World War II, and the dropping of the atomic bomb, director’ Danny Wu’s AMERICAN : AN ODYSSEY TO 1947 sheds light on the defining moments that shaped the destinies of the subjects, and the nation’s collective consciousness.
In the early 1940s, director Orson Welles navigates his meteoric Hollywood rise. As WWII begins, a Japanese American boy visits abroad, and an African American soldier enlists in the army. As the story heads towards 1947, each character follows their own ambitions in search of their American identity.
The tone of the film is split into two halves, with the first half being about the romantic rise of a great American director, and the second half transitioning into the realities of race and life in the Jim Crow era. In the end, as one American returns home, another American is forced into exile.
Written, directed, edited, and produced by Danny Wu, the captivating documentary features Orson Welles, Simon Callow, and Richard France. It premieres on digital platforms September 12 from Gravitas Ventures and will screen in select theaters (beginning in New York on September 8) during the fall. |
