Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini (January 20 1920 – October 31 1993) was one of the most influential and widely revered Italian film-makers of the 20th century and is considered to be one of the finest film directors of all time. Fellini's films typically combine memory, dreams, fantasy, and desire.

Life and work

Born in and raised in Rimini, his childhood experiences would later play an important part in many of his films. His first experience in films was working on the scripts of two of the greatest early postwar films, Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945) and Paisa (1946).

His first credit as a director came with Variety Lights (Luci del varieta) a charming backstage comedy set amongst the world of small-time traveling performers. Fellini co-directed with a more experienced director, Alberto Lattuada, but soon after was given opportunities to work on his own and with more personal themes. Fellini's first solo-directed film was Lo Sceicco Bianco (1951), with Alberto Sordi, written by Michelangelo Antonioni and Ennio Flaiano. In making this movie Fellini met Nino Rota, the musician who would follow him for the successful remainder of his career.

In addition to making films, he also wrote scripts for radio shows, for movies (mainly for Rossellini) and wrote comic gags for well known actors like Aldo Fabrizi. Fellini also produced several drawings (mostly pencil on paper), often humorous portraits. It is with these works that young Fellini encountered cinema: his first success was in drawing advertising pictures for movies.

During Mussolini's Fascist regime, he was an Avanguardista, and his first writings were for Alleanza Cinematografica Italiana (ACI), the production company of Vittorio Mussolini, son of Benito, who introduced him to Roberto Rossellini, husband of Swedish-born actress Ingrid Bergman.

In 1944, after Mussolini's downfall, Fellini opened a shop in Rome in which he sold his drawings. The shop was named (in English) "The Funny Face Shop", and contained works from Fellini and De Seta, Verdini, Camerini, Scarpelli, Majorana, Guasta, Giobbe, Attalo, Migneco (all writers, directors or otherwise intellectuals working for Italian cinema). A major inspiration for Fellini was Goethe. In the same year he started his contribution to Rossellini's Roma città aperta, starring Aldo Fabrizi.

Fellini also took part in writing another of Rossellini's movies, Paisà. He wrote also for other directors such as Alberto Lattuada, Pietro Germi, and Luigi Comencini.

Fellini's wife, actress Giulietta Masina (married in 1943) was often in his movies. Other actors with whom Fellini frequently worked include Marcello Mastroianni, Alberto Sordi, and Anita Ekberg.

In 1945 Fellini had a son who survived for only 2 weeks; he was the only son of Fellini and Giulietta Masina.

In 1948 Fellini acted in Rossellini's Il Miracolo.

Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s his films were widely acclaimed, but he was never awarded an Oscar despite 12 nominations for directing and writing. However, four of his movies - La Strada, The Nights of Cabiria, 8 1/2 and Amarcord - won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

In 1991 Fellini's text "Trip to Tulum" was translated into English by Stefano Gaudiano and published in a graphic form in the magazine Crisis with artwork by Milo Manara.

In 1991 and 1992 Fellini gave the longest and most detailed conversations ever recorded on film to Canadian filmmaker Damian Pettigrew. Excerpts from these conversations later served as the basis of Pettigrew's award-winning feature documentary, Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (Arte, Tele Piu, Scottish Screen, FilmFour, 2002) and the book, I'm a Born Liar: A Fellini Lexicon (Harry N. Abrams, 2003). Tullio Kezich, arguably Italy's finest film critic and Fellini's biographer, has described these works as the "Maestro's spiritual testament."

In 1993 he received an Honorary Oscar "in recognition of his cinematic accomplishments that have thrilled and entertained worldwide audiences." That same year, he died in Rome at the age of 73.

The Federico Fellini International Airport in Rimini, is named in his honor.

Filmography as director

Links to Fellini's drawings related to single films
Luci del Varietà (1950) (co-credited with Alberto Lattuada)
Lo Sceicco Bianco (1951) [1] [2]
I Vitelloni (1953) [3]
L'Amore in Città (1953) (segment Un'agenzia matrimoniale)
La Strada (1954) Oscar (best foreign movie) [4]
Il bidone (1955)
Le Notti di Cabiria (1957) Oscar (best foreign movie) [5]
La Dolce Vita (1960) Oscar (best costumes)
Boccaccio '70 (1962) (segment Le tentazioni del Dottor Antonio)
8½ (1963) 2 Oscars (best foreign movie, best costumes)
Giulietta degli Spiriti (1965)
Satyricon (1969)
I Clowns (1970)
Roma (1972)
Amarcord (1973) Oscar (best foreign movie)
Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976) Oscar (best costume design)
Prova d'orchestra (1979)
La città delle donne (1980)
E la Nave Va (1983)
Ginger and Fred (1986)
Intervista (1987)
La voce della luna (1990)

See also

*Art film

Bibliographies

Fellini Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)

External links

*Official Fellini's Foundation Web Site

*Various short reviews
*Watch Federico Fellini's film Il Bidone
*One of Fellini's artworks
*The Religious Affiliation of Federico Fellini
*Images and Archetypes: A perspective on the work of Federico Fellini
*Site for the documentary film "Fellini Ungrateful Celebration", directed by: Eric Burritt
*Researching and documenting the influence of Federico Fellini on popular culture
*Fellini's Life