Private Project

Orson Rehearsed

Orson Welles' heart has just stopped.

We enter his mind in this moment, on the threshold between life and death.

In the bardo Orson’s thoughts unspool as a stream of consciousness that loops back on itself, like a Möbius strip. Three avatars onstage in the theater of his mind are paired with three oneiric films within the film as he shuffles through his memories, loves, regrets, like a magician preparing for one last magic trick.

Is he ready for what comes next?

  • Daron Hagen
    Director
  • Daron Hagen
    Composer
  • Daron Hagen
    Writer
  • Daron Hagen
    Editor
  • Daron Hagen
    Producer
  • Rudy Marcozzi
    Producer
  • Robert Orth
    Key Cast
    "Orson Welles"
    Nixon in China, Ahkenaten
  • Robert Frankenberry
    Key Cast
    "Orson Welles"
    Scarpia
  • Omar Mulero
    Key Cast
    "Orson Welles"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Feature, Music Video, Other
  • Genres:
    Opera, Experimental
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 2 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    June 20, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Blue Ridge Film Festival
    Blue Ridge, GA
    United States
    February 25, 2021
    Streaming
    Best Experimental Feature
  • American Golden Picture Film Festival
    Jacksonville, FL
    United States
    May 1, 2021
    Streaming
    Best Original Music; Best Editor
  • After Hour Film Festival, Season 3
    Online Festival
    United States
    November 3, 2020
    Best Musical Feature
  • Atlanta Award-Qualifying Film Festival
    Atlanta, GA
    United States
    January 23, 2021
    Best Art Film
  • Chicago Indie Film Awards
    Chicago, IL
    United States
    Best U.S. and International Composer
  • Crown Wood International Film Festival
    Kolkata, West Bengal
    February 23, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Global Film Festival
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    January 6, 2021
    Best Original Score
  • Global Music Awards
    La Jolla, CA
    United States
    January 8, 2021
    Silver Medal for Best Original Score / Soundtrack
  • Golden Valley Global Cinefest
    West Bengal
    India
    October 10, 2020
    Best Postmodern Film
  • Logcinema Music Film Festival
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    December 16, 2020
    Best Director & Best Film Soundtrack
  • Lonely Wolf London International Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    December 22, 2020
    Finalist, Best Live-Recorded Theatre Film
  • Los Angeles Film Awards
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    November 2, 2020
    Best Score; Best Musical / Dance Film
  • Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival
    Malibu, CA
    United States
    December 6, 2020
    Best Composer; Best Director; Best Poster Art; Best Music Video Concept; Best Music Track; Best Musical Performance; Best Score
  • LA Indies
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    December 20, 2020
    Best Composer
  • Madras Independent Film Festival
    Chennai
    India
    December 3, 2020
    Special Mention: Feature Film
  • Milan Gold Awards
    Milan
    Italy
    December 5, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Montreal Independent Film Festival
    Montreal
    Canada
    November 10, 2020
    Best Composer
  • New Wave Short Film Festival
    Munich
    Germany
    December 2, 2020
    Best Film Score
  • New York Independent Cinema Awards
    New York, NY
    United States
    February 7, 2021
    Best Director
  • The Oaks International Film Festival
    Agoura, Ca
    United States
    January 3, 2021
    Best Musical Score
  • Prague International Monthly Film Festival
    Prague
    Czech Republic
    March 6, 2021
    Finalist
  • 5th Rosarito International Film Festival
    Baja, California
    Mexico
    Official Selection: Best Director
  • Seoul International Short Film Festival
    Seoul
    Korea, Democratic People's Republic of
    January 5, 2021
    Finalist: Best Film Score
  • Sydney Indie Short Festival
    Sydney
    Australia
    April 9, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Tokyo International Short Film Festival
    Tokyo
    Japan
    November 26, 2020
    Honorable Mention: Best Film Score
  • Toronto Film Channel Awards
    Toronto
    Canada
    April 23, 2021
    Best Composer
Director Biography - Daron Hagen

Daron Hagen occupies a unique position in American music and independent cinema as both a highly-successful concert music and opera composer and as the auteur director of internationally-laurelled feature-length “operafilms” that combine his own music and screenplays, placing him on the vanguard of a new genre described by OperaWire as “a neo-Gesamtkunstwerk form of opera cinema where each and everything seen on the screen, from the cuts to the lighting to the pacing, reflect the internal motivations of the story.” His films are streaming on Amazon Plus Video, Tubi, Cineverse, Future Today, Reveel, among others, and have been supported by residencies at the Corporation of Yaddo and the Bogliasco Foundation, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award, among others.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I combine elements of cinema and live opera to provide a new mode of expression that celebrates opera's rich performance history and film's rich visual vocabulary. Filming opera singers singing does not make for an opera film. The integration of live vocal performance and pre-shot, recorded, and storyboarded material by a composer who is also directing and editing from their own original story and score does. Otherwise, one is just making another film musical without memorable tunes by actors who've trained their entire lives not to perform to a camera but to a live audience.