Is Federico Fellini's legacy cherished more by Hollywood than it is by Italy?
An exhibition titled "Fellini's Book of Dreams," just opened at Academy headquarters in Beverly Hills. And in Rome,
Rob Marshall is shooting his "8 ½"-inspired "Nine" in locations that include the Via Veneto of "La Dolce Vita" fame.
But what about homespun homages?
While there was recently a big confab in Fellini's native Rimini marking the 50th anni of "La Dolce Vita," which Fellini conceived in 1958, shot in 1959 and premiered in 1960, the rest of the country seems to have fallen into what Fellini biographer Tullio Kezich calls a "national oblivion.''
"He's been totally forgotten," laments Fellini's niece,
Francesca Fabbri Fellini, who is a Fellini Foundation board member. She laments that RAI and Mediaset hardly ever run the maestro's movies "or when they do, they play at 3 in the morning."
The "Book of Dreams" show, which features more than 100 drawings from a sketchbook Fellini kept at his bedside, had a barely two-week run in Rome. But the show will be on display in Los Angeles for almost a month, from Jan. 23 through April 19. It will then travel to New York, San Francisco, Mexico City, Paris and other Euro capitals including Vienna, Budapest and Prague.
Contact Nick Vivarelli at
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