I clowns

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I clowns
The Clowns (film).jpg
Directed by Federico Fellini
Written byStory and Screenplay:
Federico Fellini
Bernardino Zapponi
Produced byElio Scardamaglia
Starring Federico Fellini
Cinematography Dario Di Palma
Edited by Ruggero Mastroianni
Music by Nino Rota
Release date
  • December 25, 1970 (1970-12-25)
Running time
92 minutes
LanguageItalian

I clowns (also known as The Clowns) is a 1970 mockumentary film by Federico Fellini about the human fascination with clowns and circuses. [1]

Contents

Plot summary

Cast

Main

Cameo/Uncredited

Production

The film was made for the Italian TV station RAI with an agreement that it would be released simultaneously as a cinema feature. [2] RAI and co-producer Leone Film compromised on its release, with RAI broadcasting it on Christmas Day, 1970, and Leone Film releasing it theatrically in Italy the following day, December 26, 1970. [3]

It is a docufiction: part reality, part fantasy. The film has sometimes been referred to as one of the first mockumentaries in film history (Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run having been released in just the previous year). [4] Being documentary and fiction in one, The Clowns distinguishes itself by being a mockumentary with unique characteristics, not the least of which is reflecting Fellini's own increasing fascination with how documentary films reflect "reality". Fellini had already explored this semi-fictional documentary genre in 1969's Fellini: A Director's Notebook and would further do so in 1987's Intervista , both of which contain unreliable depictions of Fellini himself making the film within the film narrative.

Reception

The film has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 18 reviews with an average rating of 6.9/10. [5] Film Critic Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four. [6]

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References

  1. I Clowns review by Philip French at The Guardian, October 26, 2014
  2. Baxter, J.: Fellini, page 260. St. Martins Press, 1993.
  3. Baxter, J.: Fellini, page 270. St. Martins Press, 1993.
  4. I clowns: Fellini's Mockumentary - article at The Artifice
  5. "I Clowns (The Clowns) (1970)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  6. "The Clowns". rogerebert.com. 7 July 1971.