Fellini News Update #16
1) Felliniana Archive News
This Update and all the previous ones will be available online at the website very soon. You can also expect to find a more complete sampling of the ever-growing archive in the near future, as well. Thanks for looking.
2) In Memoriam
Famed Italian Cinematographer, Tonino Delli Colli, has died at age 91. Best known famous for his masterful work on Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, he also collaborated with Fellini on Ginger e Fred, Intervista and La Voce della Luna. Read more here.
And more here.
3) People
American composer, Ted Dockstader helped invent electronic music. His 1960 debut, Eight Electronic Pieces, still shock. Portions of that work became part of the soundtrack for Fellini's Satyricon. Read his fascinating story here.
Queen of the B-movie horror films, 51 year old Brinke Stevens, (who?) met Fellini in Los Angeles in the 80's, during his Carlos Casteneda journey. She recently announced that she is working on a script about the two weeks she spent with the Maestro and his entourage. Read more here.
Aldo Vidali has lived an amazing life. The Belgian born, Roman educated author/film maker was captured by the Nazi's as a boy, explored the Brazilian wilderness, prospected in Mexico, and met and worked with Fellini during the Mastorna period. And that was just the first third of his life! In his latest project, Aldo the director plans to incorporate the ³Fellini Style² in his upcoming film, Deflating The Elephant. Read about the film here.
Read Aldo's personal history here.
British film director John Boorman gives his fascinating take on Fellini's majestic, 8 1/2. It's all part of U.K. Telegraph's wonderful online discussion, Film Makers on Film. Read interview here.
On the same site, read Gavin Miller's comments on Fellini's Amarcord here.
Jane Campion on La Strada here.
And Paul Mazursky on I Vitelloni here.
Isabella Rossellini, famous actress and daughter of Roberto Rossellini, founder of Neo-realism, stars in a new 17 minute film by Guy Maddin. Titled, My Dad is 100 Years Old, the short film consists of angry debates between Roberto, Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini and Gone With The Wind director David O. Selznick, with a cameo by Charlie Chaplin and a scene in which Isabella talks to her mom Ingrid Bergman. Read more here.
The death of Italy's most famous porn actress more than a decade ago is being investigated on the suspicion that it was faked to hide her links to "a top politician". Moana Pozzi, made her film debut in Fellini's Ginger and Fred.
4) Six Degrees of Separation
American film director, David Lynch, the auteur behind ³Blue Velvet,² ³Mulholland Drive,² the TV show ³Twin Peaks,² and ³Eraserhead² is strange. In a recent interview discussing his promotion of transcendental meditation he was asked who his heroes are. His immediate response: Federico Fellini. Read the interview here.
5) Festival News
This past summer at the Venice Film Festival the new Disney release, Casanova, by Lasse Hallstrom was unspooled along with a restored print of Fellini's version. Methinks there is little to compare. Read a report here.
"The art that embalms time", is a quote from film critic Andre Bazin, referring to films of Italian neo-realism. The Baltic Pearl International Film Festival, in Riga, Latvia, featured eleven classic films from this period at this years festival. Fellini played a major role. Read more here.
Pacific Cinematheque, a not for profit film society in Vancouver, approaches film much like an art museum approaches painting and sculpture. In honor of the Picasso of film, they recently exhibited the complete works of Fellini on their screen. Read more here.
Yale University's, Whitney Humanities Center filled to the brim with cinephiles recently at the opening gala for the center's new series of 35mm films, "The Cinema at Whitney." New faculty member, Millicent (Penny) Marcus' choice for the inagural film? Fellini's 8 1/2. Read more here.
6) Book/Music/DVD/Stage - News & Reviews
As mentioned in FNU #15, DVD Times is one of the best places to read DVD reviews. Their in depth reporting compares U.S. and U.K. releases. Check out their take on Juliet of the Spirits here.
Toronto film critic, Wendy Banks, opens her review of Terry Gilliam's latest film, The Brothers Grimm, with a direct comparison with Fellini's 8 1/2. Read the review here.
DVD Times reviews the new British Film Institute's release, Il Bidone. The big news: An additional 17 minutes have been restored to this obscure Fellini classic from 1955. Read more here.
Koch-Lorber Films who released a Collector's Edition, 2 disc version of La Dolce Vita just a few months ago, will soon release a De-Luxe Collector's Edition with a faux leather and gold leaf package AND a third disc of interesting Bonus Material. Read about it here.
Opera diva, Cecilia Bartoli, has a new CD of arias with a Fellini twist. Using a bit of shameless promotion, the singer dresses up in Ekberg-esque clothing as worn in La Dolce Vita. Images from the film decorate the cover and the booklet are here and here.
7) Student Essay of the Month
Too busy to write that term paper on 8 1/2? A lack of critical thinking got you down? No problem! Just shell out $53.95 and you can get one written for you. Read more about the dumbing down of America here.
8) Odds & Ends & Trifles
Artist of the Month: From time to time I run across artists who portray Fellini in various media. Some more successfully than others. Check out the block print portrait of Fellini by Stephen Alcorn here.
A gallery in Krems, Austria, is exhibiting a selection of Fellini erotica from his later years and is drawing crowds. You may learn more than you want to know about il Maestro, here.
And in German here.
And see examples of the erotica here.
A Bay area chalk artist plans to reproduce the poster art from La Dolce Vita in next years, Bay Street Chalk Art Festival. Read about it here.
