Key facts
- A multi-national film archive project is attempting to reconstruct Orson Welles's unfinished 'Don Quixote'.
- The project involves archives from Spain, France, Italy, and Germany.
- The reconstruction will use approximately 70,000 meters of film and original scripts.
- The process will exclude the use of artificial intelligence.
- The goal is to present a cultural version of Welles's vision, not a commercial release.
A collaborative effort involving the Spanish Film Archive, Cinémathèque Française, Italy’s Cineteca Nazionale, and Munich’s Filmmuseum is underway to reconstruct Orson Welles's unfinished film adaptation of 'Don Quixote'. Welles began the project in 1957, and it spanned three decades, with various materials scattered across these institutions.
Esteve Riambau, a historian specializing in Welles, clarified that the project is not a restoration but a reconstruction of a constantly evolving film. He emphasized that the aim is to achieve a result as close as possible to Welles's original intentions, presenting it as a cultural event rather than a commercial release. Riambau also firmly stated that artificial intelligence will not be used in the reconstruction process, with only human minds and hands involved.
Previous attempts to assemble Welles's 'Don Quixote' material include a 1992 version by Jesús Franco, which Riambau described as disappointing due to the mixing of original footage with documentary elements and misrepresentation of materials. The current project plans to study and rework the 2,000-page original script and digitize approximately 70,000 meters of film throughout 2026, with a comparative analysis scheduled for 2027.
Welles, known for adapting other literary classics like Kafka's 'The Trial' and Shakespeare's plays, embarked on 'Don Quixote' in 1957. The production faced numerous challenges, mirroring the difficulties faced by other directors like Terry Gilliam with his own 'Don Quixote' adaptation. Welles used a cover documentary project about Spain under Francoism to secretly begin his work, filming in various locations across Castile. His artistic partner, Oja Kodar, retrieved about 50,000 meters of negative, contributing to the current reconstruction effort. Some believe Welles may have intentionally never finished the film, preferring to keep it as an uncompleted dream.