The Divine Comedy of Federico Fellini
Inspired by the recent release of new prints of the classic Nights of Cabiria, Juliet of the Spirits, and Fellini Satyricon, as well as by the availability of a wonderful new documentary portrait, we seize the moment to pay tribute once again to the inimitable Federico Fellini (1920–1993). Beginning as a gag writer in 1939, Fellini progressed to script writing and soon began assisting prominent Italian filmmakers such as Roberto Rossellini. In his own early films, he combined the photographic authenticity of Italian neorealism with subtle humor and a poetic sensibility. His later work is characterized by its increasingly fantastic, oneiric vision, embodied in such masterpieces as 8 1/2 (1963) and Fellini Satyricon (1969). Fellini’s collaboration with his wife, actress Giulietta Masina, resulted in several profound inquiries into the female psyche, particularly in La Strada (1954), Nights of Cabiria (1956), and Juliet of the Spirits (1965). While, sadly, a number of Fellini’s films have fallen out of U.S. distribution (and his final film The Voice of the Moon remains unsubtitled), we are pleased to present this selection of fifteen films by the man they called il maestro, comprising some of the most compelling and original visions of the late twentieth century.