Federico Fellini: Centenary Essays

by Marco Malvestio (Editor), Jessica Whitehead (Editor), Alberto Zambenedetti (Editor)

Overview

A complex and at times controversial film-maker whose career spanned the second half of the twentieth century, Federico Fellini (1920–1993) remains central to the Italian cultural imagery and the object of ongoing debates and critical scrutiny at home and abroad. Images from his films – Gelsomina’s tears, Marcello’s sunglasses – have become global signifiers not only for Fellini and Italian cinema but for Italy itself, as steadily lodged in the world’s collective unconscious as the Colosseum’s arches and Venice’s gondolas.

Marking the centenary of Fellini’s birth, Federico Fellini: Centenary Essays reassesses the film-maker’s legacy with diverse contributions from established and emerging Fellini scholars as well as renowned Canadian film-makers. From literary influences to pictorial references, from artistic collaborations to politics, and from exhibition history to revivals, the collection covers the pivotal aspects of Fellini’s poetics through contemporary methodological tools and features a wide array of scholarly approaches. With complexity and nuance, the book takes stock of the enormous cultural legacy of one of the most celebrated directors in cinema history and is essential reading for scholars and cinephiles alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487543983
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	01/08/2025
Series:	Toronto Italian Studies
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Marco Malvestio is an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies at the University of Padova. Jessica Whitehead is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Languages at Cape Breton University.
Alberto Zambenedetti is an associate professor in the Department of Italian Studies and the Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Fellini at 100 – The Lingering Celebration
Marco Malvestio, Jessica Whitehead, and Alberto Zambenedetti

Film-Makers on Fellini

Reflections on 8 ½ Screens
Atom Egoyan

Q&A on The Rabbit Hunters (2020)
Guy Maddin

The Unexpected Moment
Deepa Metha

In Memoriam

Introduction: Ottavio Cirio Zanetti – In Memoriam
Andrew A. Monti

Federico Fellini’s Urban Planning
Ottavio Cirio Zanetti

Fellini’s Graphic World
Ottavio Cirio Zanetti

Deleuzional Ponderings: The Fellinian Symbolic (in Memory of Marguerite Waller)
Frank Burke

Centenary Essays

What Is in the Modern Look? Federico Fellini and the Photography of William Klein
Giuliana Minghelli

Fellini, Theorist of Culture, 1950–1972
Veronica Pravadelli

Oenothea’s Gaze: Donyale Luna in Fellini Satyricon
Shelleen Greene

Consumer Capitalism, National Identity, and Heterotopia in Fellini’s Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio
Eleonora Sartoni

Fellini, Dante, Il viaggio di G. Mastorna, and Dreams
Mirko Tavoni

Il viaggio di G. Mastorna’s Constellation at the Crossroads of Arts and Media
Marina Vargau

The Genesis of Steiner: La dolce vita as Authorial Melting Pot
Federico Pacchioni

Amarcord: Fascism, Nightmares, and the Spectator’s Autobiography
Emanuele Morreale

Spectres of Venice: Il Casanova di Federico Fellini and the Gothic
Marco Malvestio and Alberto Zambenedetti

Sense of Place and “Placelessness”: Fellini’s Rome
Andrea Minuz

Framing Women in Fellini’s Films and Drawings
Dishani Samarasinghe

Originals in the Dark, Imitations in the Light: Federico Fellini’s Ginger e Fred
Giovanna Lisena

“The Tyrant Spectator”: Intermediality, Spectatorship, and Subjectivation in Federico Fellini
Giacomo Tagliani

Imaginary Worlds and Startling Creatures: Federico Fellini and Popular Culture
Manuela Gieri

The Megaphone Ran Out of Battery: The Invitation of Fellini’s Voices
Gaia Malnati

Watch Out! Flashback! Fellini’s Memory Films
Russell J.A. Kilbourn

Fellini’s Notes on Camp to John Waters
Eleonora Lima

The Mastrangelo Collection and Fellini’s Distribution in Canada
Jessica Whitehead and Christina Stewart

“Women with Big Breasts and Wide Hips”: Federico Fellini’s Cinema in Chinese Media Essays
Gaoheng Zhang

Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

“Federico Fellini: Centenary Essays constitutes a vital scholarly resource that encapsulates Fellini’s multifaceted impact on cinema and culture. Commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of Fellini’s birth, this anthology is distinguished by its academic rigour, perceptive critiques, and extensive array of viewpoints. The volume features contributions from Canadian film-makers Atom Egoyan, Guy Maddin, and Deepa Mehta, alongside comprehensive analyses of Fellini’s filmography. It examines the narrative techniques, iconic visual style, and unique blend of high and popular culture that characterize his work. Furthermore, the book explores less frequently addressed dimensions of Fellini’s oeuvre, including the Gothic elements in Il Casanova and the portrayal of African American actress Donyale Luna in Satyricon, thereby enhancing our appreciation of Fellini’s enduring legacy.”—Maria Elena D’Amelio, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, University of San Marino
“Federico Fellini: Centenary Essays mirrors the Maestro’s own method in so many ways. It is at turns celebratory and critical, reflective and speculative, concerned with high art and interested in popular culture. In a word, this volume is all-inclusive: it provides a perfect introduction to the many directions in Fellini scholarship (race, gender, media, exhibition, reception) and serves as an up-to-date account of ‘where we are now’ a hundred years after the birth of Italy’s greatest director.”—Jim Carter, Lecturer in Italian and Associate Director of Cinema and Media Studies, Boston University

From the Publisher