Fellini and Fantasy
Saturday, October 1, 2022 - Sunday, January 8, 2023
“Some say I am a liar; they keep repeating it. But others lie too; the biggest lies I've heard about myself come from other people. I could disprove them, I try; unfortunately, being a liar, nobody believes me.[ ... ] In any case, I don't think I have a story to tell. I was born, I came to Rome, I got married and went to Cinecitta. This is all. My movies are pure inventions, from the first to the last scene: they don't come from reality. The Rimini I love, I have said it ad nauseam, is the one I reconstructed in the studios; the only real one. Besides, if you want to talk about reality, once you say ''I'' you have already assumed the wrong perspective. To say something true you should eliminate the ''I''; instead, you can't do without it. Not even to say, ''I wasn't there," which is my perpetual condition, the one in which I completely recognize myself.[ ... ] I have always been a fugitive, from when I was born until now. How can you tell the story of someone who is not there? I wouldn't want to discourage you, but any biographer who works on my life is chasing after a ghost."
-Federico Fellini, from a phone conversation with Tullio Kezich
Legendary Italian Filmmaker Federico Fellini (1920-1993) is one of the most distinctive, celebrated, and influential directors in the history of cinema. His vision and style were so innovative that a new adjective had to be coined: Felliniesque. He won four academy awards for best foreign film: La Strada (The Road) (1954), Le Notti di Cabiria (The Nights of Cabiria) (1957), 8½ (1963), and Amarcord (1974). In 1993, Fellini received a fifth Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement “in recognition of his cinematic accomplishments that have thrilled and entertained audiences worldwide.”
Fellini and Fantasy focuses on Federico Fellini’s drawings and his work as a graphic artist–an activity that characterized his early career when he worked as a cartoonist and journalist for the Italian magazine Marc'Aurelio, and that continued to play a significant role in his creative process after he transitioned to cinema. The exhibition opens with period magazines that either influenced Fellini or published his work; it continues with drawings on original shooting scripts that show how the director visualized his characters and settings during the early stages of his creative process. A drawing from The Book of Dreams, a diary in which the director systematically recorded his dreams and nightmares from 1960 until 1990, illustrates how Fellini visualized himself in his imagination. A selection of movie posters concludes the exhibition. These illustrate Fellini's preoccupation with the graphic look of promotional materials for his films designed by skilled artists he personally selected.
This exhibition was curated by Associate Teaching Professor of Italian Angela Porcarelli in collaboration with the Michael C. Carlos Museum, with input from Matthew H. Bernstein, Goodrich C. White Professor of Film and Media. The core of the exhibition consists of archival material from the Lilly Library at Indiana University. The Fellini Collection at the Lilly Library was created through the initiative of prominent Fellini scholar Peter Bondanella (1943-2017), a professor of Italian and comparative literature at Indiana University from 1972 to 2007. While visiting Fellini on set in 1987, Bondanella persuaded the director and his scriptwriter, Tullio Pinelli, to transfer original manuscripts, drawings, and related archival materials to Bloomington. Today, these materials constitute the largest collection on Federico Fellini outside Italy. This exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Peter Bondanella, whose research was pivotal in advancing the field of Italian film studies in the United States.
-Federico Fellini, from a phone conversation with Tullio Kezich
Legendary Italian Filmmaker Federico Fellini (1920-1993) is one of the most distinctive, celebrated, and influential directors in the history of cinema. His vision and style were so innovative that a new adjective had to be coined: Felliniesque. He won four academy awards for best foreign film: La Strada (The Road) (1954), Le Notti di Cabiria (The Nights of Cabiria) (1957), 8½ (1963), and Amarcord (1974). In 1993, Fellini received a fifth Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement “in recognition of his cinematic accomplishments that have thrilled and entertained audiences worldwide.”
Fellini and Fantasy focuses on Federico Fellini’s drawings and his work as a graphic artist–an activity that characterized his early career when he worked as a cartoonist and journalist for the Italian magazine Marc'Aurelio, and that continued to play a significant role in his creative process after he transitioned to cinema. The exhibition opens with period magazines that either influenced Fellini or published his work; it continues with drawings on original shooting scripts that show how the director visualized his characters and settings during the early stages of his creative process. A drawing from The Book of Dreams, a diary in which the director systematically recorded his dreams and nightmares from 1960 until 1990, illustrates how Fellini visualized himself in his imagination. A selection of movie posters concludes the exhibition. These illustrate Fellini's preoccupation with the graphic look of promotional materials for his films designed by skilled artists he personally selected.
This exhibition was curated by Associate Teaching Professor of Italian Angela Porcarelli in collaboration with the Michael C. Carlos Museum, with input from Matthew H. Bernstein, Goodrich C. White Professor of Film and Media. The core of the exhibition consists of archival material from the Lilly Library at Indiana University. The Fellini Collection at the Lilly Library was created through the initiative of prominent Fellini scholar Peter Bondanella (1943-2017), a professor of Italian and comparative literature at Indiana University from 1972 to 2007. While visiting Fellini on set in 1987, Bondanella persuaded the director and his scriptwriter, Tullio Pinelli, to transfer original manuscripts, drawings, and related archival materials to Bloomington. Today, these materials constitute the largest collection on Federico Fellini outside Italy. This exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Peter Bondanella, whose research was pivotal in advancing the field of Italian film studies in the United States.
