My Name Is Orson Welles

From 1 April to 5 October 2026, the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin presents the prestigious exhibition MY NAME IS ORSON WELLES. Conceived by the Cinémathèque française and curated by its Director, Frédéric Bonnaud, the exhibition features more than 400 items—some of which have never previously been displayed—from a range of public and private collections and the Museo Nazionale del Cinema’s Orson Welles Collection.

With Citizen Kane, Welles revolutionised cinematic language; in The Lady from Shanghai, he created one of the most hypnotic sequences in film history; with F for Fake, he anticipated the mockumentary; and his Chimes at Midnight remains one of the finest Shakespeare adaptations ever made. A director, actor, writer, illusionist, radio broadcaster and tireless experimenter with visual and sound language, Welles made transformation a defining feature of his artistic vision. Masks, disguises and multiple identities run throughout his work, while his own face became the canvas for continual reinvention. The exhibition presents a comprehensive and multifaceted portrait of Orson Welles, offering visitors the opportunity to rediscover one of the most important figures of the twentieth century and enter the heart of his artistic universe.

Adapted to the distinctive vertical structure of the Mole Antonelliana, home to the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, the exhibition features a number of striking installations that transform the building into an immersive journey through Orson Welles’s multifaceted world. The exhibition design extends the creative drive of the American genius through an immersive narrative experience in which cinema emerges as the art of illusion: not simply “fiction”, but a means of questioning the truth of images.

The exhibition begins in the Temple Hall, where visitors are welcomed by three Tripolina screens suspended 18 metres above the ground around the Panoramic Lift. These enhance the hypnotic quality of one of the most frequently referenced sequences in film history: the hall-of-mirrors scene from The Lady from Shanghai.

Also in the Temple Hall, an installation devoted to Rosebud immerses visitors in the atmosphere of Citizen Kane, while the chapel dedicated to Caffè Torino is transformed into the RKO radio studio from which Welles terrified listeners in 1938 with his broadcast of The War of the Worlds.

The exhibition continues along the Helical Ramp and is divided into five thematic sections—1915–1939: Wonder Boy; 1941: Citizen Kane; 1942: The Troubles Begin; 1947–1968: A Star in Europe; and 1969–1985: A King Without a Kingdom. Together, they provide an in-depth exploration of one of the most innovative and controversial figures in the history of cinema, conveying the complexity of an artist who defied easy classification.

The materials on display create a narrative that goes beyond a celebration of Welles’s best-known films. At its heart is his creative process, characterised by constant experimentation and a persistent desire to overcome the constraints imposed by the film industry. From his debut with Citizen Kane, Welles distinguished himself through his ability to reinvent cinematic language, asserting a personal and radical vision whose contradictions only add to its fascination and significance.

Alongside materials from the Paris exhibition, the display includes items from the Museo Nazionale del Cinema’s Welles Collection, including his birth certificate, annotated screenplay pages, production photographs and original posters. The exhibition also presents, for the first time, the original drawings coloured by Guido Crepax for The Immortal Story, Karen Blixen’s tale adapted for the screen by Welles.

Particular emphasis is placed on the relationship between Welles’s cinema and the theme of illusion. Fascinated by magic, the director viewed cinema as a medium capable of transforming reality and surprising audiences through a continuous interplay between fiction and truth.

The exhibition also highlights the international dimension of his career, with particular attention to his relationship with Europe, where Welles found new creative opportunities away from the constraints of Hollywood.

The exhibition has been designed in accordance with Design for All principles. It includes easy-to-read texts, highly legible panels, audio descriptions and Italian Sign Language (LIS) videos accessible via QR codes, as well as tactile models and visual-tactile panels offering a multisensory experience. Some of the visual-tactile panels will subsequently become part of the permanent exhibition route.

Throughout the exhibition, a programme of public events, dedicated guided tours, activities for schools and screenings at Cinema Massimo will be organised.

Staged along the spectacular Helical Ramp in the Temple Hall of the Mole Antonelliana, the exhibition traces the life and career of the great filmmaker through photographs, archival documents, drawings, posters, audiovisual materials and installations. Its aim is also to reveal the lesser-known yet equally essential aspects of this extraordinary all-round artist.

To coincide with the exhibition, La nave di Teseo is publishing Orson Welles’s previously unpublished novel Un pezzo grosso, translated by Alberto Pezzotta and featuring essays by Gianfranco Giagni and Sergio Toffetti. The work was published only in France in 1953—in an edited version that differs from the present edition—and was never released in the United States or any other English-speaking country. A copy of the original English-language manuscript was recently discovered in the Museo Nazionale del Cinema’s Welles Collection, adding a crucial piece to our understanding of Welles’s imagination and creative freedom.