365 Days of Trailers Day 23

Day number 23 brings you Federico Fellini's 1963 film 8½

Guido is a film director, trying to relax after his last big hit. He can't get a moments peace, however, with the people who have worked with him in the past constantly looking for more work. He wrestles with his conscience, but is unable to come up with a new idea. While thinking, he starts to recall major happenings in his life, and all the women he has loved and left. An autobiographical film of Fellini, about the trials and tribulations of film making. -IMDB

8½ is about the struggles involved in the creative process, both technical and personal, and the problems artists face when expected to deliver something personal and profound with intense public scrutiny, on a constricted schedule, while simultaneously having to deal with their own personal relationships. It is, in a larger sense, about finding true personal happiness in a difficult, fragmented life. Like several Italian films of the period (most evident in the films of Fellini's contemporary, Michelangelo Antonioni), 8½ also is about the alienating effects of modernization.

Its title refers to Fellini's eighth and a half film as a director. His previous directorial work consisted of six features, two short segments, and a collaboration with another director, Alberto Lattuada, the latter three productions accounting for a "half" film each.

8½ won two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Costume Design (black-and-white). Acknowledged as avant-garde and a highly influential classic, it was ranked third best film of all time in a 2002 poll of film directors conducted by the British Film Institute and is also listed on the Vatican's compilation of the 45 best films made before 1995, the 100th anniversary of cinema.

8½ was the first film of Fellini's films I came across as a teenager. It was a bootleg a friend of mine had on vhs. I remember being up really late and just trying to digest how it made me feel. It was one of the first films that truly made me do that. It holds a special place to this day. A film I can not suggest enough to anyone interested in filmmaking. I hope you enjoy!



IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056801/
Federico Fellini's IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000019/