An opera at sea

It took nearly 40 days to restore E la nave va (And the Ship Sails On) by Federico Fellini, which is being screened by the Mediterranean. The restored version allows the audience to discover the magic of cinema as created by the inventive Italian producer.

It’s the beginning of the 20th century, and the famous artists and politicians who make up European high society head to sea to scatter the ashes of Naples’ famed prima donna, Edmée Tattua. The ship gets caught up in the events of the First World War.

In Fellini’s films, realism gives birth to unreality: historical battles become operas, and his characters are eccentric and highly-coloured. Conflict between the Serbs and the Austrians is played out against a backdrop of Verdi and Rossini. Fellini filmed in the famous Cinecittà studios, which provided a fitting context for the producer’s unbridled imagination. “I film in a studio so I can express a subjective reality, empty of all realistic and contingent elements,” explained the director. Fellini was one of the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, and the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1960 for La Dolce Vita.

N. S.

The film is being screened at Cinema de la Plage at 9.30 pm, and is open to the public.