our world in 2014 - Fondation Fellini

OUR WORLD IN 2014
NEWEUROPE
www.neweurope.eu
112 JANUARY 2014
By Cav. Stéphane Marti
President, The Fellini
Foundation – Switzerland
International foundation
for cinema and culture
Switzerland - Geneva
s the blow of the wind crossing all
his movies now and again during the
story, imagination has transformed
Fellini’s memory into a dream, a circus
program, and gigantic pictures. In the very
unique and characteristic light of the studio
Teatro 5 (Cinecittà), this wizard sculpts luxury
liners, seas, cities in which the smallest stone
has a meaning as the one that Gelsomina holds
in the hand and which holds all the sense of
La Strada. Fellini the enchanter and the great
puppeteer not only revealed himself through
his characters, the old Casanova, Tita or this
young chap discovering Rome, but movie after
movie he created a total and almost organic
work, a life full masterpiece where sounds and
images answer to each others, like an echo.
As a great artist Fellini transcends the space
and time - frescoes of The Villa of Mysteries
in Pompéi come to life in Satyricon - he
transforms familiar places - Fregene becomes
an inspired forest (Giulietta dei Spiriti) and
the countryside is changed into a fantastical
space (Amarcord) - finally he always braves
authority and the prestige of important figures
(Casanova). This famous scene in Roma where
the workers of the subway are discovering
under the ground of Urbs Roma an old roman
villa underlines the morose relationship
between Fellini and Time, History and his
culture: after the fall of the partition between
the villa and the subway, the blow of our time
seems to delete one by one the characters of
antique pictures which disappear into dust.
Fellini celebrates in fundamentally new form
an ancient world: his cinema connects fairy to
nostalgia.
The Maestro seems to have no predecessors
through history of art – except, perhaps, the
fantasia of Hieronymus Bosch or Francesco
Goya – no successor neither spiritual son in
the contemporary cinema. Fellini seems to
have assimilated in a demiurge’s way all the
European culture in its wealth and diversity,
literature, painting, music, cinema (neo-
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
Fellini and The Fondation Fellini pour
le cinema: A European adventure
A
realism) to restore it thanks a totally subjective
and challenging point of view. For example the
adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe novel Never Bet
the Devil Your Head in Toby Dammit/ Tre passi
nel delirio is situated quite far from his literary
model but already anticipates the argument of
Ginger et Fred in his critics about television and
star system. If Picasso’s work contains a key to
understand the first part of the XXth Century,
the movies of Fellini offer the key to understand
the second part: the most important movies
reveal the unconscious of the author as well
as the collective unconscious of that time :
the deadly anxiety of Steiner incarnated by
Alain Cuny removes the mask of la Dolce Vita
PICTURES OF THE YEAR
Former British energy minister Chris Huhne (R) comes into contact with a photographers lens
as he arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, on March 11, 2013. EPA
and places this chronicle of the roman jet set
in the heart of the Cold War. Effectively, the
magic charm of his films deploys its effect
from Italy to all over the world and made the
author born on the seashore of the Adriatic
world well known. The world of cinema during
Fellini’s life and after his death, (31st October
1993) remembers him and only him under the
name of the Maestro, as the antic triumph of
his dearest Roma. This cinema rooted in Italy
and Europe became significant to the eyes of
the whole world.
Owning the most important collection
dedicated to Fellini, established in 2001, the
Fondation Fellini pour le cinéma has developed
its activities in many directions: conservation
of the cinema patrimony, organization of
events and international exhibitions, support
for an educational program, archiving for
academic research, development of the digital
technology for culture. The specific activity of
the exhibitions took a new importance since
the creation in 2011 in Sion (Switzerland)
of the cultural Center of the foundation: La
Maison du Diable Cinema & Culture visuelle.
1
Exhibitions present in world premiere the
Collection of the foundation but also some
other important collections of partners. For
three years, the exhibition Otto e mezzo, Irréel
– interrogeons le fantastique, Tournage Paris
Berlin Hollywood 1910-1939 or the currently
exhibition Fellini un artiste du XXème siècle
made of La Maison du Diable Cinéma & Culture
visuelle an international location for cinema
If Picasso’s works are
the key to understanding the first half of
the Twentieth Century,
Fellini’s movies are the
key to understanding
the second half
situated in the heart of the Swiss Alps. Further
to its numerous exhibitions on three continents
in prestigious museums, Jeu de Paume (Paris),
The Eye Museum (Amsterdam), the Benzon
Palace (Venice) and the Ludwig Museum
(Koblenz), important projects are being
prepared in Europe and in international
locations, in order to highlight this exceptional
treasure of the cinema. History will remember
that this Swiss foundation situated in the
heart of Europe, but in a non-member state
of the European Union, radiated worldwide
this famous Italian patrimony. Impossible is
definitely not a ‘Fellinian’ word.
1. The cultural Center of the Fellini Foundation
holds its name of a medieval legend related to this
patrimonial residence, Domus Supersaxo, built
at the 16th century. The director of the center is
Nicolas Rouiller.