I had the impression that the great director Federico Fellini stopped by my place a few days ago - so I invited him to come by our class.
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| Fred and Giulietta |
I had studied his films in college, and later when living in Rome there were sightings of him all over the city. Later, I met a number of people who worked with him, including the Roman actress Fiammetta Baralla, the aunt of a fellow film school student Luca Bentivoglio. I got to know Fiammetta well, and her dog Romeo who was famous in her home town of Roma.
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| Me and Luana near Via Veneto |
As a result, I felt fairly confident that we could chat with Fellini, because Fiammetta knew him, worked with him - and I am a fan of his work, his wife's work - Giulietta Masina - and her work with Anthony Quinn. Some years later I worked with one of his sons Francesco. Once Francesco told me that his dad loved our film "Cannes Man." (For the record, Anthony Quinn was Mexican American as he mentions)
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| Francesco's dad |
So this is a Italian celebrity filled session - Marcello Mastroianni stops by as well... which would be incredible to any fan of Italian cinema, but for many - like Jennifer, they are only vaguely familiar with these icons.
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| Ma che fai? |
The discussion is fun and lively - given on March 11th, the day before my birthday. My birthday gift to myself was to have the amazing Jennifer Shaffer access people that I knew about and wished I might one day meet - and they report things that only those on the flipside could know.
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| Fiammetta Baralla |
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| La vita e sempre bella with Fiammetta |
Boh!
