Chandigarh Film Festival Has Taken the Route to Entertain and Educate Film Viewers in the Grammar of Cinema
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Public Relations Department, Chandigarh Administration www.chdpr.gov.in Press Release Chandigarh, February 1:-Chandigarh Film Festival has taken the route to entertain and educate film viewers in the grammar of cinema. While show casing some of the latest films from some parts of the world, Administration has also felt to present a profile of the works of the most acknowledged film makers of all times. Federico Fellini, the Italian film director is one of them. Film Festival will be showcasing Retrospective on the works of Fellini comprising of an unknown film ‘Interview’ (1987) which has never been shown in India till date, ‘The Orchestra Rehearsal’ that has been shown only twice after its New Delhi screening in 1979, and the three most well known works which have received worldwide recognition, and yet hardly seen in India. More opportunities would be afforded to cineastes of Chandigarh, to witness more retros of other film makers in future film festivals organised in the city. An Introduction to Federico Fellini and his film works By Gautam Kaul Fellini is considered to be one of the few film makers who influenced the cinema of the world in the first century of Cinema. Born on 2oth January 1920, Fellini was a member of a small family which had one more son and a daughter. The family came from the village Gambettola, but he himself was raised in Remini. Environment, in which his early years were spent, influenced Fellini deeply. Some of these memories later erupted into sequences of films he made. Three films in particular, ‘I vitelloni(1953)’, ‘Eight and a Half (1963)’ and ‘Amarcord (1973)’ are works in which the film director confessed one could see segments of his childhood. Amarcord in particular has a director's commentary to add to this recall. Fellini was not a prolific film maker. Like Satyajit Ray who made 27 feature films, Fellini made twenty four feature films. But many of his works got worldwide recognition, or an occasional controversy. One film in particular called ‘Orchestra Rehearsal, made in 1978 was actually banned for some time in Italy but was welcomed in India in the International Film Festival of India held during 1979 in New Delhi. Here in India too, thc film critics sympathizers of the newly installed Janata government, panned the theme of the film. A symphony orchestra was used as a symbol of a multi cultural society which in peace time was always squabbling. The conductor could not control his players. Then a big rumble was heard when a rehearsal was being attempted. The players found an iron ball was being brought which would be used to bring down the chapel hall where the orchestra in practice. When the first ball strike took place, all the players by now fearful of the catastrophe decided to forget their strife and showed they played music to protect their church hall. It was argued that Fellini was anti democratic, a leftist with a streak of being dictatorial intellectually. Fellini, during his youth was a member of the fascist youth group and this film did have an inspiration from his past influence of his younger days. The film is part of our selection for the festival. It was during the war time days that Fellini met, in 1942, Giulietta Masina, then an unknown actress, whom he married. With this marriage, also began one of the creative partnerships in world cinema. Masina, organized Fellini's talent and his home. Masina appeared first as Fellini's heroine in ‘La Strada (1954)’, a film which finds itself in list of the greatest movies ever made. In 1993 Fellini received a Life Time Achievement Oscar. In the same year he died of a heart attack in Rome. Six months later, after celebrating the Golden Jubilee of his marriage to Masina, his wife too died of lung cancer. Fellini's first solo directed film was made in 1952 called ‘The White Sheik’. It was a comedy film centered around a circus. The film failed to be commercial success. Next followed ‘Variety Lights’, The film marks the creation of a creative team of talented people who stuck with Fellini in all future films until 1980 when Fellini made a bad film, ‘City of Women’. The genius of Fellini may be assessed from the recognition he got from his peers and his critics. He is the only film director in film history to get the Best Foreign Film Oscar FOUR times. The films were ‘La Strada (1954)’, ‘Le Notte di Cabiria (1957)’, ‘Eight and a Half (1963)’ and ‘Amarcord (1973)’. His film ‘La Dolce Vita’ or the Sweet Life made in1960 starring Anita Ekberg, won the top prize at Cannes. The film also immortalized the Page 3 photographers chasing celebrities and called paparazzi. Fellini's films were deeply personal visions of society, often portraying people at their most bizarre. His works influenced in latter years creative film directors like Woody Allen, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Stanley Kubrick and Emir Kusturica. Fellini had his fans in India, but he could never visit India. .