To say that Federico Fellini is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time is an understatement. Even though all art is subjective and maybe there exists someone that doesn’t enjoy his films, when you just look at the accolades, it’s clear that Fellini is in a class all his own. And to help celebrate his 100th birthday which happened earlier this year, The Criterion Collection is releasing a special edition box set honoring some of the filmmaker’s greatest works.
As seen in the trailer for “Essential Fellini,” the box set from Criterion is coming in November (just in time for the Christmas buying season, naturally) and will include fourteen of the filmmaker’s best films, including classics such as “8 ½,” “La Dolce Vita,” “Roma,” and “La Strada.” Also included in the box set are two books of essays about the influential filmmaker, as well as a two-hour interview, four behind-the-scenes documentaries, and audio commentaries on several of the films.
If you’re a film fan that loves the work of Fellini (and we’re going to guess there are many of you out there), this is clearly another must-have from Criterion. And if you’re someone that is interested in exploring more cinematic classics, you can’t do much better than 14 films from one of the greatest filmmakers to ever grace the planet.
Criterion’s “Essential Fellini” will be available on November 24. You can watch the trailer on Vimeo.
Here are all the details for all the goodies in the box set:
FIFTEEN-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR’S SET FEATURES
- New 4K restorations of 11 theatrical features, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks for all films
- New digital restorations of the short film Toby Dammit (1968) and the television film Fellini: A Director’s Notebook (1969), with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
- Feature documentaries Fellini: I’m a Born Liar (2002) and Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember (1997), the latter presented in its 193-minute version
- Two-hour, four-part 1960 interview with director Federico Fellini by filmmaker André Delvaux for Belgian television
- Four behind-the-scenes documentaries: Reporter’s Diary: “Zoom on Fellini” (1965), Ciao, Federico! (1969), The Secret Diary of “Amarcord” (1974), and Fellini racconta: On the Set of “And the Ship Sails On” (1983)
- Fellini racconta: Passegiatte nella memoria, a 2000 documentary featuring interviews with a late-in-life Fellini
- Giulietta Masina: The Power of a Smile, a 2004 documentary about Fellini’s wife and frequent collaborator
- Once Upon a Time: “La dolce vita,” a French television documentary about the film
- Audio commentaries on six of the films
- Program from 2003 on Fellini’s 1980s television advertising work
- Archival interviews with Fellini stars and collaborators, including Mastroianni, Sandra Milo, Anouk Aimée, and Magali Noël
- Archival audio interviews by film critic Gideon Bachmann with Fellini, Mastroianni, and Fellini’s friends and family
- Video essays, trailers, and more
- PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including two lavishly illustrated books with hundreds of pages of content: notes on the films by scholar David Forgacs, essays by filmmakers Michael Almereyda, Kogonada, and Carol Morley; film critics Bilge Ebiri and Stephanie Zacharek; and novelist Colm Tóibín, and dozens of images spotlighting Don Young’s renowned collection of Fellini memorabilia
The Films
VARIETY LIGHTS (1950)
THE WHITE SHEIK (1952)
I VITELLONI (1953)
LA STRADA (1954)
IL BIDONE (1955)
NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (1957)
LA DOLCE VITA (1960)
8½ (1963)
JULIET OF THE SPIRITS (1965)
FELLINI SATYRICON (1969)
ROMA (1972)
AMARCORD (1973)
AND THE SHIP SAILS ON (1983)
INTERVISTA (1987)