The Other Side of the Wind: $2m bid to complete unfinished Orson Welles film launches on Indiegogo

Filmmakers working on the project hope to complete the movie by the end of 2015 to mark Welles' centenary year

Screenwriter and director Orson Welles (Getty Images)

Orson Welles’ unfinished film The Other Side of the Wind may finally reach completion 45 years after the director first snapped the clapperboard on set.

An Indiegogo crowdfunding page has been set up with the aim of raising $2m to finish the movie, including scanning the film’s negative, editing footage and composing the score.

The filmmakers behind the project hope to complete the movie by the end of 2015, marking 100 years since the director was born, if the crowdfunding initiative reaches its target.

The Other Side of the Wind was shot between 1970 and 1976 but became plagued by financial problems and a long-running legal dispute, which has prevented the film from being completed.

Welles’ final film offers a scathing look at Hollywood, shot in an unconventional mockumentary style. The plot follows the last night in the life of JJ ‘Jake’ Hannaford, a once-legendary director trying to finish an edgy film intended to reinvent his career, also titled The Other Side of the Wind.

The cast includes John Huston, Norman Foster, Dennis Hopper, Peter Bogdanovich, Bob Random, Susan Strasberg and Oja Kodar.

The crowdfunding page claims the film remains as relevant today as it did in the Seventies.

“The Other Side of the Wind is an important film that explores the myth of the Hollywood, macho director, the avant-garde movement of the 1970s and the culture of celebrity and its sycophants,” it states.

The Indiegogo campaign hopes to raise m by 14 June

Welles fans who contribute to the project will receive rewards including a limited number of 35mm film prints taken from the movie, original film negative canisters from the set and tickets to the world premiere of The Other Side of the Wind.

Frank Marshall, who worked closely with Orson Welles and served as a line producer on the film, said: “I’m thrilled to finally be nearing the end of the long journey to finish Orson’s last picture. It’s wonderful that all of us can come together with the same goal, to preserve his cinematic genius and honour his legacy.”

At the time of writing, $16,176 had been raised within eight hours of the launch of the Indiegogo campaign.

Film buffs will have until 14 June to contribute towards making cinema history and help complete Welles’ final film.