Exploring the Weird Worlds of Fellini through his Dream Diary
In 1960, Fellini scored his greatest popular and critical success with ‘La Dolce Vita’. But he was also beset with doubts, and on the advice of his Jungian analyst, began to record his dreams.
Over the next 30 years, he would explore a bizarre fantasy life in drawings and texts, recalling his early career as a cartoonist; and many of these fantasies found their way into his later work, including ‘8 ½’, ‘Fellini Roma’, ‘Satyricon’ and ‘Casanova’.
An immense edition of those diaries was published in 2020 to mark the centenary of Fellini’s birth, and armed with it we can explore afresh ‘Fellinia’, the inner world that the filmmaker brought to life on screen. Picasso, Chaplin, Hitler, Anita Ekberg, the Kennedys, and his wife Giuletta Masina, all mingle among a huge cast of characters in this extraordinary testament to cinema as a dream life – rarely realised with such uninhibited exuberance.
NB. Preceding Ian Christie’s talk, is a screening of a fascinating new documentary ‘Fellinopolis’ (UK Premiere) in the auditorium at 10:30am, and following the talk is Fellini’s ‘Orchestral Rehearsal’ – (Studio) 16:30