The unpublished exhibition entitled Fellini’s Oniric Obsessions opened on Thursday 16 July in Sion (Switzerland) at the cultural center of the Fellini Foundation for Cinema. The exhibition offers an immersion in the mysterious film that the Maestro left unfinished in 1967 and entitled Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna. After Otto e mezzo (1963) and Giulietta degli spiriti (1965), Fellini wanted to film the experience of heraldry in the tradition of the great catabases of Virgil (Descent into Aeneas’ Hell) and Dante Alighieri (Inferno).

The exhibition is curated by Stephane Marti (President of the Foundation), Nicolas Rouiller (Director of the Cultural Center of the Foundation) and Nicolas Brun (Vice-President of the Foundation).

As part of the Fellini centenary, for this exhibition the Foundation has associated extracts from the famous Book of Dreams to its collection, with the courtesy of the Municipality of Rimini and Francesca Fellini, and a selection of original drawings from the Jakob & Philipp Keel collection.

The exhibition itinerary is divided into three themes present in the work: the obsession with death, and as an answer, the themes of eros and art. Through fifty drawings by the master, some of them unpublished, the viewer can immerse himself in the works from three important Fellini collections.

The drawings that Fellini made inspired by his dreams and during the film production are at the origin of his films, they contain the universe and the characters that will then reveal themselves between the studio lights and the screens of the dark rooms.

Comments Stephane Marti “Paradoxically, not having made this film prompted Fellini to create films such as Roma, Casanova and E la Nave in a different way in the work to come. To the theme of death (thanatos), Fellini will therefore oppose that of eros, thus assuming the status of artist demiurge, an Orpheus of modern times able to make us feel new music “.

Comment Gianpiero Piscaglia, Councilor for Culture at the Municipality of Rimini “The Fellini’s Oniric Obsessions exhibition, inaugurated today, is based on close collaboration with the Fellini Foundation of Sion, with which the Municipality of Rimini has signed a protocol of understanding for the realization of popularization projects of Federico Fellini’s work. The goal is to create a lasting and stable synergy, capable of enhancing and promoting, through combined actions, the figure of Federico Fellini and his cultural heritage, recognized and admired all over the world. This important collaboration has already produced excellent results, such as the exhibition ‘David Lynch Dreams – A Tribute to Fellini’, curated by the Fellini Foundation of Sione and set up in Castel Sismondo on the occasion of the review “The Seventh Art – Cinema and Industry” and above all the presence of some valuable original materials owned by the Swiss foundation in the exhibition “Fellini 100 Immortal Genius”. This is only the beginning of a cooperation that over time will surely generate intense and profitable cultural exchanges, in the name of the immortal art of Maestro Fellini. Finally, we rejoice at the participation, in this exhibition, of the Jakob & Philipp Keel collection “.

Phillipp Keel comments “If you were to explain to someone, the imaginary, dreams and madness of existence, you could without hesitation recommend Fellini’s work”.

The cultural and academic commitment of the foundation in Switzerland and abroad has been rewarded by the Italian authorities: The President of the Italian Republic H.E. Sergio Mattarella gave the foundation a special medal highlighting the cultural and significant value of the exhibition in the context of the Fellini centenary. The exhibition also received the high patronage of the Italia

n Ministry of Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Embassy in Switzerland and the Consulate General of Italy in Switzerland.

The exhibition, which will end on 27 September 2020, and the related collateral events are part of a special program of three exhibitions that celebrate the Fellinian Centenary in Sion (Switzerland).