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A LESSON FROM THE LIFE OF FEDERICO FELLINI:
The Lost Wings of the Spirit
     In our Truth-in-CinemaQuest we have never before come across a director's statement that so perfectly summed up his life and his art. Indeed, we feel that the following statement, although brief, is powerful enough to teach us all what we need to learn from the life of this struggling human spirit. With the aid of our intuition, the dismal fog of confusion that has surrounded this man's work for so many years should finally begin to clear away....
 
      A short time before his death in 1993, the famed director Federico Fellini (in a rare, precious moment of self-honesty) made the following confession regarding the course of his life and his art:

    "I was always dreaming that I could fly. When I did, in my dreams, I felt very light. I loved those dreams. My flying dreams were exhilarating.
    "Sometimes I had great wings which could be seen by everyone, wings so big that they were even unwieldy. Other times, I didn't need wings, I just took off, propelled by a power within me. Sometimes I had a destination. Sometimes I was just exploring.
    "It's strange, because there is nothing I hate more than flying in an airplane. The only way I have ever wanted to fly was without a plane.
    "I would be asked by colleagues and collaborators, Why did I want to make a film about a man who could fly? They know I hated being in an airplane. I'd answer,'It's a metaphor.' That kept them quiet.
   "At a certain point in my middle age, some might call it early old age, I began to dream I could no longer fly. I was someone who had been able to fly. The implication was clear. Once I had known how to do it and had been in total control of my own power. But now I was deprived.
    "It was terrible. Terrible. To have lost such a gift. I, who had had the gift, knew better than others the wonders of the experience." (from "I, Fellini")