21.11.23, 20:30, Citizen Kane (1941)

Few films carry as much canonical weight as Citizen Kane. Indeed, Orson Welles' peculiar biopic about American newspaper magnate Williams Randolph Hearst invariably features in lists of the most influential and best films of all time. The film's reputation raises many questions about the selection criteria and the whole process of canonisation in cinema and other forms of art and culture. For its time, Citizen Kane was a particularly experimental Hollywood film. Numerous analyses elaborate on cinematographer Gregg Toland's extraordinary camerawork, or Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz's labyrinthine screenplay. But those who take the time to see and experience Citizen Kane on the big screen will discover (once again) how sensitively the film outlines the demise of pure innocence.

Introduction by film scholar Engelbert Willems.