Old Postcard Wednesday--Fellini • Portrait of a Film Director

You exist only in what you do.

                                                        ~Federico Fellini

I love this old postcard, and I love the above Fellini quote. It seems such a simple concept but once you begin thinking about it layers peel off from layers and there is so much there.

As I exist right his moment--writing this post for your consideration--what I am going to do is tell you something I am not pleased with about myself: I have never seen a Fellini movie. So I am asking for your advice in selecting which of his movies you think I should definitely purchase. The full list is available at Ranker.

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Talking about dreams is like talking about movies; since the cinema uses the language of dreams, years can pass in a second and you can hop from one place to another. It’s a language made of image. And in the real cinema, every object and every light means something, as in a dream.

                                                        ~Federico Fellini

I have had some bad dreams lately, something unusual for me and something I am aware is going on because I have remembered a few in those first seconds after waking only to have them a total wipe from my brain by the time my feet hit the floor. Not remembering them is probably a gift I am subconsciously giving to myself, in spite of telling myself to analyze them later on.

Silverton's local theater, The Palace, had a fire last week that was a real nightmare for this small town. The owners had just completed an near $100,000 upgrade to state-of-the-art digital and The Hunger Games was in a second week showing (we hadn't seen it yet). A woman who lives in an apartment upstairs in a building in the block said her little Chinese Crested dog just would not let up in asking to go outside. It was around
7:00 a.m. when she walked the dog to the corner where The Palace is and saw the lobby in flames. Her quick thinking--she ran back to her place, called 911 and the owners of the business and the building--probably saved The Palace. The situation as it stands now is that the cause is unknown, but deemed accidental, and the theater will be closed for an undetermined time for evaluation and repairs. There was smoke damage inside, but perhaps the machinery itself escaped it. We are all hoping for the best.

Our mayor, Stu Rasmussen, is co-owner of The Palace, where he worked as a boy and fell in love with the place. Stu is the first transgendered mayor of an American city and I think Fellini himself would find him a fascinating person (and fellow movie buff). Click to see a photo of Stu lookin' gorgeous at his re-election website in the "Reality Check" page. In the video below, taken the morning of the fire, he is interviewed sans makeup.


   
       

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A good opening and a good ending make for a good film provide they come close together. 

                                                        ~Federico Fellini

The same is true for most blog posts so I am keeping the opening and ending of this one confined as is. I'll be looking forward to your Fellini movie recommendations!


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