This week marks a full century since the actor Marcello Mastroianni entered our world on September 28, 1924. Now, nearly 30 years on since he exited, it remains quasi-illegal to write anything about him without using the two words he detested most of all: “Latin Lover.” Dating back to at least 1960, when his performance in Federico Fellini’s La dol...

Sandra Milo, an icon of Italian cinema who played a key role in Federico Fellini’s “8½” and later became his muse, died Monday, her family said. She was 90. Milo, noted for her distinctive high-pitched voice, died in her sleep at home in Rome, surrounded by her family and beloved dogs Jim and Lady, according to a statement from the family carried b...

In mid-century Italy, going to the cinema was the thing to do. The release of a new Totò film, the most recent Fellini, or Sergio Leone’s latest western were unmissable events. The next day’s water cooler chatter, newspaper headlines, and dinnertime gossip would revolve around new releases and their lingo, and to not be up to date was a special for...

Arancia Studio, an Italian creative atelier focused on comics and IP development, today announced Napoli-New York, an original graphic novel written by French acclaimed writer Jean-David Morvan, based on the film manuscript of the same name by revered director Federico Fellini. The project was one of the last works from the legendary Italian direct...

From April 12 to June 14 at SIFF Cinema Uptown Theater (511 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA). April 12: Variety Lights and Toby Dammit. April 18: I Vitelloni. April 25: La Strada. May 3: The Nights of Cabiria. May 10: La Dolce Vita. May 23: 8 1/2. May 31: Juliet of the Spirits. June 7: Amarcord. June 14: Ginger and Fred. Welcome Spring with a feast o...

What counts as "cool" exactly? It's not easy to pin down: as a notion, "coolness" is both frustratingly intangible and constantly in flux. In fashion, music and cinema, the genesis of "cool" feels heavily tied to the emergence of popular culture in the 20th Century – from the US jazz scene that first popularised the term, to the fashion world's pos...

As most millennials, I have often had to make do by working odd jobs that had little to do with my university studies. One of the most random, and yet absurdly incredible, of these was working at the front desk of the Grand Hotel in Rimini. Yes, that one, Federico Fellini’s second home. Federico Fellini, a towering figure of the 20th century and on...

Like many European nations after World War II, Italy was shaken to its core and in a state of reconstruction in the mid-1940s. While for countries like France or England, being on the winners’ side of the conflict made it much easier to go back to what was deemed as normality, for the Third Reich’s main ally through half of the war, the aftermath l...

Federico: This lady coming home, skirting the wall of this ancient patrician palace, is a Roman actress, Anna Magnani, perhaps the symbol of the city. Anna: Who am I? Federico: Rome seen as she-wolf and vestal, aristocratic and ragged, gloomy and buffoonish… I could go on until tomorrow morning. Anna: A Federì [“Federico” in Roman dialect], go to s...

Born in 1920, Federico Fellini is recognised as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Throughout the 1940s, the young filmmaker amassed many writing credits, most notably co-writing the screenplay for Rome, Open City, directed by Roberto Rossellini. This, famously, led Fellini to receive his first Oscar nomination.  By 1950, Fellini had co-pr...