Fellini, Federico (fādārē`kō fāl-lē`nē), 1920–93, Italian film director. After World War II he wrote screenplays for such neorealistic films as Rossellini Rossellini, Roberto (rōbĕr`tō rōs-sĕl-lē`nē), 1906–77, Italian film director and producer.
..... Click the link for more information. 's Open City and Paisan. He began directing in 1950 and quickly abandoned neorealism in favor of professional actors and scripted tales of almost fablelike simplicity that express a basically humanistic outlook.

He enjoyed international acclaim with I Vitelloni (1953), La Strada (1954; Academy Award), Nights of Cabiria (1957; Academy Award), La Dolce Vita (1960), and 8 1-2 (1963; Academy Award), the latter two widely considered his black-and-white masterpieces. Filmed in color beginning with Juliet of the Spirits (1965), his movies became a celebration of life in all its beauties and grotesqueries while also exploring Fellini's wildly imaginative dream life. These later works, including Fellini Satyricon (1969), Amarcord (1973; Academy Award), City of Women (1980), Ginger and Fred (1984), and Voices of the Moon (1990), feature international casts of distinctive faces and camera gymnastics that substitute for traditional drama.

Bibliography

See his tape-recorded autobiography (with C. Chandler) I, Fellini (1995); his Three Screenplays (tr. 1970); biography by H. Alpert (1986, repr. 1998); study by G. Salachas (tr. 1969); Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (documentary film dir. by D. Pettigrew, 2002).

Fellini, Federico

Federico Fellini, 1965.

(credit: Paris Match/Pictorial Parade)

(born Jan. 20, 1920, Rimini, Italy—died Oct. 31, 1993, Rome) Italian film director. After collaborating with Roberto Rossellini on the screenplays for Open City (1945) and Paisan (1946), Fellini undertook his first solo venture in 1952. It failed, but his next film, I vitelloni (1953), was a critical success. He won international acclaim with La strada (1954, Academy Award), The Nights of Cabiria (1957, Academy Award), and La dolce vita (1960). He continued his distinctive autobiographical style of filmmaking—one that displayed a sympathetic fascination with the bizarre—in 8¹⁄₂ (1963, Academy Award) but turned to gaudy spectacle in Juliet of the Spirits (1965) and Satyricon (1969). The best of his later films are Amarcord (1973, Academy Award) and the nostalgic Ginger and Fred (1985). His wife, Giulietta Masina (1920–94), starred in several of his films.