As a boy of 7, or perhaps 12 (Fellini was always mischievously vague about the particulars of his autobiography) he briefly ran away with a traveling circus, returning to his parents within several days. It was to be the location-either real or imagined-for some of his most resonant movies, including the 1953 “I Vitelloni,” his first international success, and, much later, “Amarcord.”Īlthough Fellini once described his middle-class childhood in an interview as being exceptionally happy, his rebellions started early.
20, 1920, in the provincial town of Rimini on the Adriatic Coast. Il maestro (Italian for “the master” ) or il mago (“the magician”) was born Jan.
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His final films, “L’ Intervista” (“The Interview”) and “The Voice of the Moon,” brought to a close a career in which the artist’s stream of consciousness reached full flood.įellini was honored last March with a special Academy Award for lifetime achievement. His masterpiece “8 1/2" and “Amarcord” won him two more Oscars in 19. His reputation grew through the scandalous “La Dolce Vita” in 1960, which was condemned by the Vatican as obscene because of its portrayal of decadence and promiscuity, but which won the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes. His legend began with such early classics as “La Strada,” which in 1954 won him his first Oscar, and “Nights of Cabiria,” which won him another in 1957. But this phantasmagoria is by no means all that Fellini conjured up in his directorial career. The term “Fellini-esque,” coined from the Italian filmmaker’s name, evokes an orgy of rich, roiling carnival-like imagery, leering gargoyle faces and sumptuous decadence. He was courageous, always in pursuit of the truth, instinctive and surprising. In Los Angeles, Directors Guild of America President Gene Reynolds said: “Fellini was an uncompromising genius, individualistic, drawing from the storehouse of his own personal experience. Other frequent collaborators include composer Nino Rota who worked on 16 films with Fellini and Marcello Mastroianni, star of 8½ (1963) who went on to make five more films with the director.Actor Marcello Mastroianni, whom Fellini cast as the archetypal Latin lover in “La Dolce Vita” and who starred in many of his other films, grasped for words: “How can I capture in a comment the genius of a director and my sincere friendship with him? It would be better to reflect in order to understand how great this man was.” He often collaborated with his wife, actress Giulietta Masina, who started off in smaller roles but then came to the forefront with her amazing performance in La Strada (1954). His movies require your full undivided attention and an open mind to soak in their magic.įellini’s films are partially autobiographical in that he revisits people, places and situations of his past. But really all of his films had the special Felliniesque touch that mixed joy and sadness and was often served with a heaping dollop of the surreal. Fellini came about during the Italian Neorealism movement and at the height of his work wrote and directed three masterpieces: La Strada (1954), La Dolce Vita (1960), and 8½ (1963). He blended realism with dreamlike fantasies and created some of the most avant garde and poetic films that are still celebrated to this day.
Fellini started off as a screenwriter but quickly became one of the most influential directors of the 20th century. The late, great Federico Fellini was born on Januin the seaside resort town of Rimini, Italy, which he often returned to in his films.