Federico Fellini (1920 – 1993) brought a new level of autobiographical intensity to his craft; more than any other filmmaker of his era, he transformed the realities of his life into the surrealism of his art. Though originally a product of the neorealist school, the eccentricity of Fellini’s characterizations and his absurdist sense of comedy set him squarely apart from his contemporaries like Vittorio De Sica or Roberto Rossellini. At the peak of his career, his work adopted a distinctively poetic, flamboyant and influential style so unique that only the term ‘Felliniesque’ could accurately describe it. The many awards he won during his illustrious career, which spanned five decades, include four Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.