Felliniana: Seattle 2003

In August of 2002, after a tip from Fellini scholar, Peter Bondanella, about an upcoming Fellini event, I sent a letter to Professor Raimonda Modiano at the University of Washington who was organizing an academic conference in celebration of Fellini. (Officially known as "Felliniana: Seattle's International Celebration of Federico Fellini's Cultural Legacy") I expressed my interest in participating in the October 2003 conference. At Prof. Modiano's invitation, I sent a selection of original posters from my collection to be displayed at the Seattle Art Museum for a Fellini film festival prior to the conference. Read more about this important conference here:

http://depts.washington.edu/felniana/

Additionally, through a bizarre chain of events, I was able to make a very special contribution to the Seattle conference, by arranging for actress Barbara Steele of Fellini's 8 1/2 to attend. (After the purchase of a Fellini book on Ebay, I discovered the seller was a close friend of Ms. Steele. One thing led to another and she accepted my invitation to attend the conference.) She gave a delightful talk at the opening gala on, The Muse of 8 1/2, and later, during an informal screening of the film, she shared some of her intimate recollections of working for Fellini on the film. Read more about Ms. Steele, here:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0824489/

It was also my great pleasure to suggest to conference organizers that they invite Orchestra Nostalgico of San Francisco, to perform at the opening gala. The band (formerly known as Club Foot Orchestra) has recorded a delightful CD of Nino Rota music from Fellini films which they skillfully performed that evening. They also performed a set of music specially arranged for Orchestra Nostalgico by Nicola Piovani, who composed the music for three, late Fellini films. Read more about the band and purchase their masterful CD of Nino Rota music here:

https://www.facebook.com/orchestranostalgico/

La Strada in Cowtown

I Vitelloni on Criterion