Federico Fellini might've cut his cinematic teeth making films in the style of classic Italian neorealism, but the iconic director's grandiose sensibilities couldn't be constrained for long. After films like The White Sheik and La Strada graced screens in the early 1950s, Fellini followed his unique creative impulses away from the stark reality of Italian cinema at the time and directed his most ambitious, dazzling projects, which ultimately became his most prized masterpieces: La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2.
He not only amassed a staggering 12 Oscar nominations throughout his life but he also set a record for most Best Foreign Language Film wins in the history of the Academy Awards. He won 4.
One could go on all day reveling in Fellini's brilliance and exalting his contributions to the world of filmmaking, but instead—why not celebrate his life's work by watching his films? Criterion recently announced that it has created a collection of all of the director's most important projects. Dubbed "Essential Fellini", the 15-disc box set includes titles spanning nearly 40 years of his career, as well as a plethora of extra content that'll make any Fellini fan's life a little sweeter.
The 15 films included in the box set are:
- Variety Lights (1950)
- The White Sheik (1952)
- I Vitelloni (1953)
- La Strada (1954)
- Il Bidone (1955)
- Nights of Cabiria (1957)
- La Dolce Vita (1960)
- 8 1/2 (1963)
- Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
- Fellini Satyricon (1969)
- Roma (1972)
- Amarcord (1973)
- And the Ship Sails On (1983)
- Intervista (1987)
The box set is full of extra features, too.
- New 4K restorations of 11 theatrical features, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks for all films
- New digital restorations of the short film Toby Dammit (1968) and the television film Fellini: A Director’s Notebook (1969), with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
- Feature documentaries Fellini: I’m a Born Liar (2002) and Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember (1997), the latter presented in its 193-minute version
- Two-hour, four-part 1960 interview with director Federico Fellini by filmmaker André Delvaux for Belgian television
- Four behind-the-scenes documentaries: Reporter’s Diary: “Zoom on Fellini” (1965), Ciao, Federico! (1969), The Secret Diary of “Amarcord” (1974), and Fellini racconta: On the Set of “And the Ship Sails On” (1983)
- Fellini racconta: Passegiatte nella memoria, a 2000 documentary featuring interviews with a late-in-life Fellini
- Giulietta Masina: The Power of a Smile, a 2004 documentary about Fellini’s wife and frequent collaborator
- Once Upon a Time: “La dolce vita,” a French television documentary about the film
- Audio commentaries on six of the films
- Program from 2003 on Fellini's 1980s television advertising work
- Archival interviews with Fellini stars and collaborators, including Mastroianni, Sandra Milo, Anouk Aimée, and Magali Noël
- Archival audio interviews by film critic Gideon Bachmann with Fellini, Mastroianni, and Fellini's friends and family
- Video essays, trailers, and more
- PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including two lavishly illustrated books with hundreds of pages of content: notes on the films by scholar David Forgacs, essays by filmmakers Michael Almereyda, Kogonada, and Carol Morley; film critics Bilge Ebiri and Stephanie Zacharek; and novelist Colm Tóibín, and dozens of images spotlighting Don Young’s renowned collection of Fellini memorabilia
The Essential Fellini box set will retail for $200 and will be available on November 24, 2020. You can preorder now by heading over to Criterion.
Source: Criterion
