Federico+Fellini

Back to IB Film > Director Study

**Federico Fellini** ** Biography ** **﻿﻿**Federico Fellini was born on the 20th of January 1920 in the city of Rimini, Italy. An acute student when he studied at the "Gambalunga" lyceum, Fellini spent most of his leisure time drawing comics and caricatures. He moved to Rome to study Law at the university, but he abandoned it to work as a journalist. He is introduced to the world of cinema in the early 1940's were he collaborates with director Roberto Rossellini by contributing in the screenplay for //Rome Open City//. He marries actress Giulietta Masina in 1943, who will collaborate in many of his films. His first directing experience first is in the 50's with //Variety Lights// and //The White Sheik//, but he obtains worldwide success with //La Strada// in 1954. From this picture onwards, Fellini will receive various accolades as well as worldwide fame. After other successes such as //8 1/2, La Dolce Vita// and //Amarcord//, in the early '90s he decided to leave filmmaking. He died on the 31st of October 1993 at the age of 73.


 * Key Films **
 * //La Strada// [The Road], 1954. Considered as one of his most humane works, //La Strada// explores the theme of the soul fighting between the heart and the mind through the tragic story of Gelsomina (played by Giulietta Masina), a clown working in a travelling carnival commanded by slaver Zampano (played by Anthony Quinn). Fellini called this film "the complete catalogue of my entire mythological world".
 * //Le notti di Cabiria// [Cabiria's Nights], 1957. Cabiria, a prostitute, looks for love in Rome. It represents, in simple context, the misery of the human existence (how Cabiria is a victim of circumstance since she is forced to prostitute herself to live) and the triumph of the human heart (the fact that she looks for love despite being what she is).
 * //La Dolce Vita// [The Sweet Life], 1960. Considered Fellini's first move towards art cinema, //La Dolce// //Vita// describes downgraded writer and journalist Marcello Rubino's (Marcello Mastroianni) experiences with high-class society. Apart from international and commercial success, the film was very criticized for its erotic scenes and the change of human psychology that followed the economic boom of the time.
 * //8 1/2// (1963). A dream-like picture inspired on Fellini's real-life experience of suffering a "director's block", //8 1/2// flows between reality, flashback and fantasy towards the story of director Guido Anselmi's artistic crisis.
 * //Amarcord// ["I remember" in Romagnol language], 1973. Fellini's most autobiographical film, it actually explores, with comedic elements, a slight invention in his memories as a young adult. In //Amarcord//, all the characters and scenarios are caricatures, thus emphasizing Fellini's dream-like style of directing that emerged mainly from //La Dolce Vita// and //8 1/2//.



** Articles of Analysis **
 * Article written by Philip French regarding the ground-breaking //La Dolce Vita// and how it influenced world cinema: []
 * A deep study of one of Fellini's most forgotten works; //Roma// of 1972: []
 * John Russell Taylor of //The Times// looks at Fellini from an human point of view: []
 * Fellini's groundbreaking films are explored by scholars: []
 * The Ingmar Bergman Foundation recollects Fellini and Bergman's relationship: []

** Influences **
 * T**he comics of Winsor McCay (especially Little Nemo)**. Inspired by the comic, little Fellini would use his imagination to create stories and films in his room.
 * **Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, The Marx Brothers**. Instead of following more sophisticated cinema, as a young adult Fellini would enjoy himself watching American comedies.
 * Luis Buñuel
 * Pietro Germi
 * John Ford
 * **Ingmar Bergman.** Fellini was a close friend of Bergman. They were supposed to film a love story for producer Dino De Laurentiis together with Akira Kurosawa, but the project dropped because of the latter's health conditions.
 * Akira Kurosawa
 * Carl Jung

** Influenced **
 * Stanley Kubrick
 * **Martin Scorsese.** The Italian-American director claimed that Fellini's second film //I Vitelloni// had an influence on //Mean Streets//.
 * Rainer Werner Fassbinder
 * David Lynch
 * Terry Gilliam
 * **Woody Allen.** His //Stardust Memories// was inspired by //8 1/2//.
 * Pedro Almodovar
 * Emir Kusturica
 * David Cronenberg
 * Juraj Jukabisko
 * Dariush Mehrjui

** Awards ** ** Quotations ** ** Critical Reception ** [These statistics are taken from //Il Morandini 2011: Dizionario di Cinema// (by Laura, Luisa and Morando Morandini; Zanichelli, 2010), an Italian "film dictionary" that collects national and international film reviews, plots and box office performances.] [ ★ = critical reception; $ = commercial performance. Max. of five] ** Links, or Other Useful Websites/Sources **
 * 7 //Nastro d'Argento for Best Director// (1954, 1955, 1958, 1964, 1974, 1980, 1984)
 * //3 Nastro d'Argento for Best Original Screenplay// (1961, 1964, 1974)
 * //3 David di Donatello for Best Director// (1958, 1960, 1974)
 * //Palme d'Or 1960// for //La Dolce Vita//
 * //Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1957// for //La Strada//
 * Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1958 //for// Le notti di Cabiria
 * Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1964 //for 8 1/2//
 * //Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1974// for //Amarcord//
 * //Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement 1992 -// " in recognition of his cinematic accomplishments that have thrilled and entertained worldwide audiences."
 * //Cannes Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award 1974// (ax aequo with Rene' Clair)
 * //Venice Film Festival Golden Lion 1982// //for Lifetime Achievement//
 * ** "I make a film in the same manner in which I live a dream..." **
 * "All art is autobiographical. The pearl is the oyster's autobiography."
 * "The visionary is the only realist."
 * La Strada. ★★★★. $$$$
 * Le notti di Cabiria. ★★★★. $$$$
 * La Dolce Vita. ★★★★★. $$$$$
 * Fellini - Satyricon. ★★★★. $$$
 * Roma. ★★★. $$$
 * Amarcord. ★★★★. $$$$$.
 * A detailed biography [written in Italian] about the director, focusing a lot on his biography and his rise to fame. More complete than the English page: []
 * Analysis of all his filmography. Perfect to dig deeply into his most/least known films. Written by Antonia Shanahan: []
 * //501 Movie Directors// by Stephen Jay Schneider, pages 241-243
 * Philip Kemp discusses Fellini's cinematographic style and Guido Bonsaver comments his unknown films: []
 * And of course []...