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DREAMWORKS: Fellini's dream obsession, from graphic diaries to movies.

DREAMWORKS: Fellini's dream obsession, from graphic diaries to movies.

Update: 2025-12-01
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Description

Frank Burke is a leading film scholar with a long interest in Italian director Federico Fellini (1920-1993). Few artists were more obsessed with their dreams than Fellini. In this conversation we talk about his early interest in puppets and circus, and his jobs, before moving into film, as an illustrator and caracaturist. Drawing was always an important part of his preparation for movies but he also kept a graphic, drawn dream diary in the '60s and '70s, at the suggestion of Jungian analyst Ernst Bernhard. We discuss his interest in the work of another analyst, James Hillman who leaned more to the mystical and symbolic, and explore the recurring themes in those diaries (published postumously). Films in which dreams feature large are also discussed - we mention several but we focus on four including the feted 'Eight and a half'( 1963) and the vilified 'City of Women' (1980). To close Frank suggests movies that listeners new to Fellini may watch as an as a way into his work (depending on their interests and state of intoxication).


Participants:

Frank Burke, Independent film scholar and Professor Emeritus, Department of Film and Media, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada. https://www.queensu.ca/filmandmedia/people-search/frank-burke

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk


More on Federico Fellini: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Fellini

Some films discussed:

Eight and a Half: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056801/

Juliet of the spirits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059229/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_6_nm_2_in_0_q_%2520%2520Juliet%2520of%2520the%2520spirits

City of Women: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080539/

More on James Hillman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_HillmanParticipant:

More on Carlos Castaneda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castaneda

'CAPOLAVORO! Masterworks of Italian Cinema' podcast: https://shows.acast.com/capolavoro-masterworks-of-italian-cinema/episodes/68c9445da8e1b0e4bfd2ee12

Opening music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown. 

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Sketch by KB.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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DREAMWORKS: Fellini's dream obsession, from graphic diaries to movies.

DREAMWORKS: Fellini's dream obsession, from graphic diaries to movies.