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Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini Quotes

Film director

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Famous Federico Fellini Quotes

“Like many people, I have no religion, and I am just sitting in a small boat drifting with the tide. I live in the doubts of my duty.... I think there is dignity in this, just to go on working.... Today we stand naked, defenseless, and more alone than at any time in history. We are waiting for something, perhaps another miracle, perhaps the Martians. Who knows?”

PeopleThinkingKnowsTodayWaitingDoubtAtheismDutyGoes OnSittingDignityMiraclePositive AtheismNakedBoatTidesDriftingDefenselessMartiansWaiting For Something
Author:Federico Fellini
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“Don't forget that costumes, like dreams, are symbolic communication. Dreams teach us that a language for everything exists - for every object, every color worn, every clothing detail. Hence, costumes provide an aesthetic objectification that helps to tell the character's story.”

CharacterHelpingStoriesDreamLanguageForgetTeachObjectsColorCommunicationDetailsClothingsAestheticWornCostumesSymbolicObjectification
Book:Federico Fellini: Interviews
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“I don't believe in total freedom for the artist. Left on his own, free to do anything he likes, the artist ends up doing nothing at all. If there's one thing that's dangerous for an artist, it's precisely this question of total freedom, waiting for inspiration and all the rest of it.”

IfsBelieveArtEndsInspirationArtistLeftWaitingOne ThingDangerousDon't BelieveLikesDoing Nothing
Book:I'm a born liar: a Fellini lexicon
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“I don’t like the idea of “understanding” a film. I don’t believe that rational understanding is an essential element in the reception of any work of art. Either a film has something to say to you or it hasn’t. If you are moved by it, you don’t need it explained to you. If not, no explanation can make you moved by it.”

IfsNeedsBelieveArtIdeasFilmUnderstandingEssentialsElementsMovedDon't BelieveRationalExplanationMovieWorks Of ArtReceptionFilm DirectorsRelay Races
Author:Federico Fellini
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“What's important is the way we say it. Art is all about craftsmanship. Others can interpret craftsmanship as style if they wish. Style is what unites memory or recollection, ideology, sentiment, nostalgia, presentiment, to the way we express all that. It's not what we say but how we say it that matters.”

IfsWayArtImportantMatterWishMemoriesStyleArt IsNostalgiaIdeologySentimentsRecollectionWhat's ImportantCraftsmanship
Book:I'm a born liar: a Fellini lexicon
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“Objects and their functions no longer had any significance. All I perceived was perception itself, the hell of forms and figures devoid of human emotion and detached from the reality of my unreal environment. I was an instrument in a virtual world that constantly renewed its own meaningless image in a living world that was itself perceived outside of nature. And since the appearance of things was no longer definitive but limitless, this paradisiacal awareness freed me from the reality external to myself. The fire and the rose, as it were, became one.”

WorldHumansRealityFormEmotionHellEnvironmentFireAwarenessFiguresObjectsPerceptionFunctionInstrumentsRoseAppearanceSignificanceMeaninglessLimitlessUnrealDetachedVirtual RealityHuman EmotionsVirtual World
Book:I'm a born liar: a Fellini lexicon
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“I’m just a storyteller, and the cinema happens to be my medium. I like it because it recreates life in movement, enlarges it, enhances it, distills it. For me, it’s far closer to the miraculous creation of life than, say, a painting or music or even literature. It’s not just an art form; it’s actually a new form of life, with its own rhythms, cadences, perspectives and transparencies. It’s my way of telling a story.”

WayArtStoriesHappensFormLiteratureMovementCreationPaintingPerspectiveMediumsRhythmMy WayCinemaStorytellerMiraculousTransparencyCadence
Author:Federico Fellini
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“The public has lost the habit of movie-going because the cinema no longer possesses the charm, the hypnotic charisma, the authority it once commanded. The image it once held for us all — that of a dream we dreamt with our eyes open — has disappeared. Is it still possible that one thousand people might group together in the dark and experience the dream that a single individual has directed?”

PeopleStillsDreamMightEyeTogetherActorsIndividualLostDarkGroupsHabitThousandAuthorityCinemaMovieCharmCharismaHypnotic
Book:I'm a born liar: a Fellini lexicon
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