Fellinopolis

Under the patronage of

in collaboration with

This film was only made thanks to the work of director Ferruccio Castronuovo

on the sets of Fellini's "City of Women", "The Ship Sails On" and "Ginger and Fred".

These films, the "Specials", were used to promote upcoming films.

Now they've been restored, after more than 40 years

at the Cineteca Nazionale.

To Ferruccio the greatest gratitude for this unique tribute

to be carefully preserved.

Get down on your knees to see better.

It's not amusing.

Keep it that way, we'll add something later.

Go! Quick!

All directors do the shot, the reverse shot and wide shot,

but with him, this is just the beginning.

Take a seat, ma'am.

How are you?

Look at the camera.

Rosina, who comes from Verrucchio,

is the first one to come out of the heap!

I’m a Bette Davis lookalike.

I’m Lucio Dalla’s double.

Wait! Stop everything!

Slow down!

We stay here, from morning till night, trapped together. We create a world apart.

It's a "Fellinopolis".

Scene 33/5/5.

Stage 5 in Cinecittà is the ideal place. The utmost excitement.

Thrilling, entrancing...

That's what I feel in front of the empty stage.

A space to fill, a world to build.

Please try to hold the positions you have been given,

Roll camera! Clear the scene!

Too much smoke! Stop it!

Roll camera.

Action, Marcello!

Move forward!

Get out! Get out!

Louder! Shout louder!

Come forward! Come on! Come on!

Go this way! This way! Go!

Ferocious, ferocious!

Stop! Thank you.

Flora Mastroianni, Marcello's wife,

was my friend since school.

It was at her house that I met Fellini.

Get down on your knees to see better.

You recognize him, you scream.

Stand up. Stand up!

There he is!

I first met Fellini on the set of "Satyricon",

on which I worked as the assistant of Luigi Schiaccianoce.

I met him in his kingdom, Cinecittà.

I met Federico in 1963.

I used to go RAI television

and ask if there were any chances

to have an internship.

There I met Federico Fellini.

"Excuse me, you make a lot of movies,

may I have a chance to work with you?"

After that meeting,

I worked with him from 1963 to 1993.

You all stand up and you come just about where you are now.

At one point in my life I decided to start working in movies.

I had a stroke of luck,

because I met Maurizio Mein.

Please try to hold the positions you have been given.

He was Fellini's assistant.

I implored him: "Maurizio, please introduce me to Fellini."

On a Friday afternoon, I got a phone call.

"Ferruccio, are you free on Monday morning?"

"Yes."

"Then come to Cinecittà. Fellini wants to meet you".

"Fellini wants to meet me? Bugger off!"

I thought a friend was playing a joke on me.

"No, I'm Norman, the production manager of Casanova."

"Casanova"?! Holy shit!

I didn't sleep for two nights.

One afternoon, which I will never forget,

the phone rang and a voice said:

"Good morning, I am Fellini's assistant director.

The Master would like to meet you tomorrow morning

in the offices of Stage 5 at Cinecittà film studios."

I took it as a joke

and I answered: "Sure, I'll be there."

Then, luckily, I had some doubt and the following morning

I went to the offices of Stage 5 in Cinecittà.

We spoke in his office.

From that day on, with the exceptional unaffectedness

that he was able to infuse in any relationship,

I worked with him, we spoke on the phone, we exchanged views...

nearly every day for 11 years.

I worked in the costume department laboratory.

I dealt with aging, among other tasks.

I supervised the seamstresses, the making of stage costumes.

I was Gabriella Pescucci's assistant for "City of Women".

Bark. You have to bark.

What if we do it yellow instead of this color?

Golden?

There was a lot to do, we had to create the feminists' costumes...

We had to invent quite a bit.

Try playing, turn towards me. That's it!

The other way.

Good, that's it. All the way!

Play like this.

Later on, as a set manager, I was almost always there, at his side.

We got on instantly.

Take a seat, I'll set you up later.

All right. Then?

Thank you. We'll see you later. Goodbye.

I wanted to tell the whole story, the work,

the set of Fellini's films.

Lower the trunk!

I started to look for the best framing I could imagine.

Raise the trunks!

Pull up the trunks!

That's it! Roll camera, let's go!

Scene 33/3/1.

Don't move!

The challenge of portraying the story of "City of Women"

didn't prove easy, also because I didn't know the script.

I didn't know what exactly Fellini wanted to tell.

The more money, the more rounds!

Inside this shack, you can watch the most dangerous exercises...

I chose to tell the film

in a much more explicit way

than just doing interviews here and there.

In fact, there's no narrator.

It's all direct sound.

Later we plug them in here.

Bring the pulley back here!

The fateful Saturday comes along,

and Fellini wants to see the material I shot.

Gianni, I'll arrange the bulbs to be put here on the sides.

I saw Fellini controlling everything.

He tore up all the photos: "This is bad... this is bad".

I was shaking.

Fellini's examination,

when check what you shot at the editing table

is a terrible moment!

He came in and watched.

Every now and then he turned and looked at me.

I would smile, shyly.

He would restart the Moviola.

Then he'd stop and say: "Where were you here?"

Take 2-6

Then we saw what was going on in front of Fellini.

Attention, please! We are ready!

Don't move!

Rolling camera!

He's coming down.

Brake! Slow down!

The rope is too loose, leave it on!

- Did you hurt? - Slower.

"From now on, you are the only person allowed to shoot on the set of my films."

And he kept his word, because I went on filming.

"City of Women", "The Ship Sails On" and "Ginger and Fred".

Mustn't I look at you?

- I don't like the way you to look at me. - I won't look at you!

Fine.

Ready!

You don't like the way I look at you? I won't look!

Without moving. You should stay...

Can you see the camera?

If you do this like he does...

Ready!

I was an assistant director, so I would do everything

as assistants are expected to do.

Music, Maestro!

This is a particular film, it didn't cost me any effort to make it.

It almost came about without me knowing and today it's over.

Federico and I were in a taxi and another car passed by.

And inside the other car there was a "face".

A face that struck Federico.

He said: "Follow that car."

It was an eternal line from the movies.

So I did.

I got out of the car in a hurry, took another taxi and followed it.

He would have liked to have all the faces of the world around him.

What's your role in this movie?

The role of Saraghina.

- Do you know that "Saraghina" is a fish? - Yes.

And it's a pretty skinny fish!

The charm of Federico

and his world. Those extraordinary faces

that you didn't see in other movies.

It's a Noah's ark, no more, no less.

Look at all the characters, they're more like animals.

We're all animals. I'm a beast too.

He's got all these incredible characters, like in a wax museum.

When someone asked: "Where do you find them?"

He would reply: "I have a shop where I pick them up."

Both with professional and non-professional actors,

I'm affected by a form of gratitude for the mere fact that they permit me

to see the incarnation, the embodiment of characters

who until a month earlier, lived only in my imagination.

They were impalpable, like visions from a dream.

It’s really them, now.

One of these minor characters amuses me very much,

because he's always so snooty.