La Artiste di Federico Fellini




Who Was Fellini?

Federico Fellini was one of the great Neo-Surrealistic Italian Filmakers. He directed films from 1950 (Luca di Varietia) to his final film La Voce de la Luna (produced in 1989).  At the time of his death, he was also researching for another film, whose name escapes me at the moment. His films are characterized by their imagery, which incorporates both stunning visual montages, as well as underlying social satire. Most of his films are also , to a certain extent autobiographical of his life, both growing up with a strong Catholic background, and his trials and tribulations as a filmmaker. Fellini has also won Academy Awards for both 8 1/2 and Amarcord.

What films has Fellini made?

Fellini's Filmography , courtesy of the IMDB
  • Voce della luna, La (1989)

    • ... aka Voice of the Moon, The (1989)
  • Intervista (1987)

    • ... aka Federico Fellini's Intervista (1987)
    ... aka Fellini's Intervista (1987) (USA)
  • Ginger e Fred (1986)

    • ... aka Ginger and Fred (1986)
  • E la nave va (1984)

    • ... aka And the Ship Sails On (1984)
    ... aka Et vogue le navire (1984) (France)
  • Città delle donne, La (1980)

    • ... aka City of Women (1980)
    ... aka Cité des femmes, La (1980) (France)
  • Prova d'orchestra (1979)

    • ... aka Orchestra Rehearsal (1979)
  • Casanova (1976)

    • ... aka Casanova di Fellini, Il (1976)
    ... aka Fellini's Casanova (1976)
  • Amarcord (1974)
  • Roma (1972)

    • ... aka Fellini's Roma (1972)
  • Clowns, I (1971) (TV)

    • ... aka Clowns, The (1971) (TV)
  • Satyricon (1969)

    • ... aka Degenerates, The (1969)
    ... aka Fellini Satyricon (1969)
  • Tre passi nel delirio (1968) (segment "Toby Dammit")

    • ... aka Histoires extraordinaires (1968)
    ... aka Spirits of the Dead (1968)
    ... aka Tales of Mystery (1968)
    ... aka Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1968) (UK)
    ... aka Trois histoires extraordinaires d'Edgar Poe (1968)
  • Giulietta degli spiriti (1965)

    • ... aka Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
  • 8 1/2 (1963)

    • ... aka Eight and a Half (1963)
    ... aka Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963)
    ... aka Otto e mezzo (1963)
  • Boccaccio '70 (1962) (segment "Temptations of Dr. Antonio, The")
  • Dolce vita, La (1960)

    • ... aka Douceur de vivre, La (1960) (France)
    ... aka Sweet Life, The (1960)
  • Notti di Cabiria, Le (1957)

    • ... aka Cabiria (1957)
    ... aka Nights of Cabiria (1957)
  • Bidone, Il (1955)

    • ... aka Swindle, The (1955)
    ... aka Swindlers, The (1955)
  • Strada, La (1954)

    • ... aka Road, The (1954)
  • Amore in città (1953) (segment "Marriage Agency, The")

    • ... aka Love in the City (1953)
  • Vitelloni, I (1953)

    • ... aka Spivs (1953)
    ... aka Vitelloni (1953) (alternative English title)|
    ... aka Young and the Passionate, The (1953)
  • Sceicco bianco, Lo (1951)

    • ... aka White Sheik, The (1951)
  • Luci del varietà (1950)

    • ... aka Lights of Variety (1950)
    ... aka Variety Lights (1950)     Fellini's Biography

    (again, courtesy the IMDB)

     
    Date of birth (location)
    20 January 1920, Rimini, Italy

    Date of death (details)
    31 October 1993, Rome Italy, heart attack/stroke/coma

    Mini biography
    Life -- the women who both attracted and frightened him and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII -- inspired the dreams that Fellini started recording in notebooks in the 1960s. Life and dreams were raw material for his films. His native Rimini and characters like Saraghina (the devil herself said the priests who ran his school) -- and the Gambettola farmhouse of his paternal grandmother would be remembered in several films. His traveling salesman father Urbano Fellini showed up in Dolce vita, La (1960) and 8 1/2 (1963). His mother Ida Barbiani was from Rome and accompanied him there in 1939. He enrolled in the University of Rome. Intrigued by the image of reporters in American films, he tried out the real life role of journalist and caught the attention of several editors with his caricatures and cartoons and then started submitting articles. Several articles were recycled into a radio series about newlyweds "Cico and Pallina". Pallina was played by acting student Giulietta Masina, who became his real life wife from October 30, 1943, until his death half a century later. The young Fellini loved vaudeville and was befriended in 1940 by leading comedian Aldo Fabrizi. Roberto Rossellini wanted Fabrizi to play Don Pietro in Roma, città aperta (1946) and made the contact through Fellini. Fellini worked on that film's script and is on the credits for Rosselini's Paisà (1946). On that film he wandered into the editing room, started observing how Italian films were made (a lot like the old silent films with an emphasis on visual effects, dialogue dubbed in later). Fellini in his mid-20s had found his life's work.