The Truth About La Dolce Vita

Around the end of 1958 Federico Fellini was going through a complicated period in his career. He had already won two Oscars for La Strada and Le notti di Cabiria but nobody wanted to produce his latest project: a story called La dolce vita. It was only Giuseppe Amato, who had already produced masterpieces such as Umberto D., Francesco Giullare di Dio, Don Camillo, who understood the extraordinary nature of the subject. Amato appeared to be the only who realised that what he had in his hands was a masterpiece. The story begins with a pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotondo where Amato is going to receive Padre Pio’s blessing for his work on La dolce vita. This is the starting point for the most popular Italian film ever abroad and an extremely tormented production process marked by furious arguments between the director and producers, threats and setbacks. Sixty years after its production and marking Fellini’s one hundredth anniversary, thanks to unpublished documentation, for the first time La verità su La dolce vita describes the creation and unique history of one of the most iconic masterpieces in the history of cinema, described by means of a successful set reconstruction, film sequences and testimonials of the protagonists in the film. It is an extraordinary story of love for the cinema: that of a producer for his film, who is so in love with it that it almost costs him his life. Today this film is a symbol of our love for this craft. (Venice International Film Festival)