FELLINI 100: celebrations for the centenary of Federico Fellini‘s birth with a complete retrospective of his cinematic works, an exhibition and a special concert featuring Nino Rota’s music from Fellini’s most iconic films.
Organized in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Hong Kong (ICI), The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) and fully supported by the Consulate General of Italy in Hong Kong, the FELLINI 100 Programme will showcase all 24 films that the maestro had directed – most of them newly and digitally restored by Luce Cinecittà, Cineteca di Bologna and Cineteca Nazionale -. To mark the occasion, a unique programme key-art inspired by the iconic look from La Strada of Fellini’s wife and muse – Giulietta Masina – has been created.
To kick-off, six of Fellini’s most celebrated masterpieces will take center stage at the 44th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF44), scheduled from 18 to 31 August 2020. They include his four Oscar winners for best foreign-language film, namely: La Strada (1954), the folktale-like odyssey that marked his career breakthrough; Nights of Cabiria (1957), which won Giulietta Masina the best actress award at Cannes; 8 1⁄2 (1963), widely acclaimed as one of cinema’s most recognized touchstones with his spiritual and artistic musings; and Amarcord (1973), when he was at his most autobiographical.
To complete the line-up are La Dolce Vita (1960), the Palme d’Or winner that rocketed FELLINI to international fame and began his life-long creative collaboration with the legendary Marcello Mastroianni; and Roma (1972), his colorful tribute to the Eternal City that stands as an extravagant cinematic spectacle.
Also to take place during HKIFF44 is an exhibition of rarely seen behind-the-scenes photos, film stills and posters, as well as Fellini’s hand-drawn sketches on loan from the Cineteca di Bologna, and a special concert of Nino Rota’s memorable film scores for Fellini, under the baton of acclaimed Italian musician and conductor Lorenzo Antonio Iosco.
The FELLINI 100 Programme will continue beyond HKIFF44 and last until the end of the year: HKIFF Cine Fan repertory program will screen Fellini’s remaining 18 films over two bi-monthly editions from September to December 2020. They include Variety Lights (1950); The Vitelloni (1953); Juliet of the Spirits (1965); Fellini Satyricon (1969); Fellini’s Casanova (1976); City of Women (1980); Ginger and Fred (1986); his final work The Voice of the Moon (1990); and three distinctive short films in Love in the City (1953), Boccaccio 70 (1962), and Spirits of the Dead (1968).
Recognized as one of the most gifted filmmakers the world has ever seen, Federico Fellini (1920-1993) began his career as a screenwriter for Roberto Rossellini on Rome, Open City (1945). He soon transitioned from post-war Neorealism to his distinctive style, inventing a fantastical world constructed by the carnivalesque spectacle, dreamlike imagery and bizarre scenarios to explore themes of memory, desire and artistic expression. His phantasmagorical works, which were at once humorous, imaginative and bewildering, leave behind a legacy that continues to awe and inspire generations of filmmakers.
Federico Fellini 100 is part of the Federico Fellini 100 Tour, a series of centennial tributes to Federico Fellini (1920–1993), which will travel to major museums and film institutions worldwide, coordinated by Paola Ruggiero and Camilla Cormanni from Luce Cinecittà. All films (unless noted) have been digitally restored by Luce Cinecittà, Cineteca di Bologna and Cineteca Nazionale.