Wednesday, October 7, 6:00 – 7:30 pm. Host, Nancy Indelicato. Please click here to register for webinar. Richard Peña, (Harvard BA, '76, MIT MS, '78) is a Professor of film theory and international cinema at Columbia University and founder of its M.A. program in Film and Media Studies.

He has been a Visiting Professor in the U.S. and internationally. From 1988-2012, he was Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Director of the New York Film Festival, organizing retrospectives including Antonioni, Germi, and Zurlini, and two ground-breaking series: “Passion and Defiance: Silent Divas of the Italian Cinema” and “Life Lessons: Neorealism and the Birth of Modern Cinema.”

In 2000, he initiated the annual Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, co-sponsored by Cinecittà, in addition to other series worldwide. He was honored at Lincoln Center’s 50th Film Gala in 2012. Richard Peña continues to serve on the Rome Film Festival Selection Committee. He also hosts WNET/Channel 13’s weekly Reel 13, presentation of classics, Indies, and shorts.

In the one-hundredth anniversary year of Federico Fellini’s birth, the Italian Heritage and Culture Committee of New York, Inc. (IHCC-NY, Inc.) will present a series of online discussions about Fellini and his films, facts, and fantasy. The series will highlight Fellini—the man and his legacy—
including clips from some of his most famous films: La Strada, Le Notti di Cabiria, I Vitelloni, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, and Amarcord.

Federico Fellini, Italian screenwriter and director of numerous iconic films, was nominated for many Academy Awards, winning four for Best Foreign Language Film and the Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He also won prestigious awards at the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival, and he received The Film Society of Lincoln Center Award for Cinematic Achievement. Fellini was awarded the honor of Cavaliere di Gran Croce in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

From September 30 through November 4, the weekly Fellini Series will include a number of experts: Richard Peña, Professor of Film Studies at Columbia University; Gianfranco Angelucci, screenwriter, author, and Fellini collaborator; Mauro Aprile Zanetti, historian and author; Giancarlo Lombardi, CUNY Professor of Italian and Visual Studies; Eugenia Paulicelli, CUNY Professor of Italian and Fashion Studies; Paolo Ceratto, author and son of Caterina Boratto, actress in three Fellini films; and others.

Fellini’s screenplays drew on his childhood memories, experiences, dreams, and fantasy, which in later years portrayed extravagant, baroque images. Giulietta Masina, his wife, starred in several of his celebrated films. His films also became noted for their set designs, costumes, and for Nino Rota’s signature music. His filmography is so unique, it gave birth to the term Felliniesque and the word paparazzo.

The IHCC-NY, Inc., film series is a collaborative program with the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute of Queens College, CUNY, and the Società Dante Alighieri NYC.

For more information about the series, contact: Nancy Indelicato, chair of public relations, Italian Heritage and Culture Committee of NY, Inc. at [email protected].