His way of mixing grand opulence with postmodern unease made him an essential fixture in world cinema from the postwar era well into the ‘70s. Fellini basked in his artificial worlds while self-consciously placing his all-too-human fears and anxieties in the center. Fellini started off as a cartoonist after he moved to war-ravaged Rome and never lost that comic sensibility.Īs delightful as Fellini’s storytelling often is, it burrows underneath luscious surfaces and zany caricatures in order to discover the humanity squirming beneath all the glittering surfaces. This type of vision works best in visual mediums, where the image carries the most meaning. Everyone is performing, clad in outrageous costumes and masks, creating a transparent carnival where the extraordinary is reality. Fellini had a lifelong fascination with the circus as a magical space where everyday reality is transcended, enhanced. But we shouldn’t shrug it off entirely either: there’s truth to be found in a tall tale, even if it’s told by your wicked uncleįactually true or not, the essence of Fellini’s filmmaking is in that anecdote. Yet considering that Fellini openly admitted to being “a born liar,” we don’t have to take his yarn at face value. Quite an experience for an imaginative little fellow. While wandering awestruck under the big top, he hung out with circus folk and wound up tending to a sick zebra.
This divergence is a major source of conflict in 8 1/2, in which reporters, family members, and colleagues rebuke the protagonist, a filmmaker, for believing his personal life could be of interest to audiences.įollowing the success of La Strada and Nights of Cabiria, both of which won the Oscar for best foreign film, Fellini went on to direct such classics as La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, and Juliet of the Spirits.When he was a young boy, maybe about seven or eight years old, Federico Fellini stole away from home in his small seaside resort town of Remini and joined the circus. Because Rossellini was a pioneer of the Italian Neorealism movement, Fellini adopted some of the movement's qualities while also breaking with them in notable ways, in particular using a more personal storytelling style. This earned Fellini his first Oscar nomination and launched his career as a screenwriter and later a director. In 1944, Fellini met famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini, who recruited Fellini as a writing collaborator on the film Open City.
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Once World War II was underway, he started writing scripts for a radio serial starring actress Giulietta Masina, who would later become his wife and the star of his films, including La Strada and Nights of Cabiria. Although his family later denied it, Fellini also insisted that he once tried to run away to join the circus.Īfter his move to Rome, Fellini began contributing cartoons and stories to the humor magazine Marc'Aurelio.
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As a young boy, Fellini named the four posts of his bed after the four major movie theaters in Rimini, already drawing connections between film and dreams. The early seeds of inspiration for films like 8 1/2 are clear in retrospect.
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Fellini was also a notably unathletic child, never touching a soccer ball or learning how to swim-a rarity in Italy at the time. While still in high school, he started a caricature shop called the "Funny-Face Shop," hoping to capitalize on the local tourism industry. Nevertheless, he had an active imagination, distinguishing himself as a talented cartoonist early in life.
Because Ida's family also had ties to Roman nobility, she-and young Federico, as a result-always felt her return to Rome was inevitable, though only Federico would move there permanently in the late 1930s.Īccording to Kezich, Fellini did not often attend the cinema as a child, nor did he read many books. Ida was wealthier, and her family disowned her when she married Urbano. Rumors that Fellini was born on a moving train that was passing by Rimini later circulated as a result of a newspaper article printed decades after his birth, but friend and biographer Tullio Kezich denies this, since a rail strike began on the very day Fellini was born, making it impossible that his mother would've traveled through Rimini that day.įellini's mother and father were neighbors who fell in love despite class differences. Federico Fellini was born in Rimini, Italy to Ida and Urbano Fellini.