Plot

Federico Fellini accepts the request of a television crew to be interviewed about his career, narrating memories, dreams, realities and fantasies.

Cinecitta, the huge movie studio outside Rome, is 50 years old, and as Fellini begins production on his latest film, a Japanese TV crew interviews him about the other films he has made their over the years. A young actor portrays Fellini arriving at Cinecitta the first time by trolley to interview a star. Marcello Mastroianni dressed as Mandrake the Magician floats by a window, and Fellini followed by TV crew takes him to Anita Ekberg's villa where the Trevi fountain scene from La Dolce Vita (1960) is shown on a sheet that appears and disappears as if by magic.—Dale O'Connor <[email protected]>

While shooting a movie about his arrival to Cinecittà to interview a famous star, Federico Fellini is interviewed by Japanese television. Fellini highlights and revisits the beginning of his career in the early 1940s, portrayed by young actor Sergio Rubini. Then he casts new characters for his next movie, "Amerika", from Franz Kafka. Later, Marcello Mastroianni performing Mandrake visits Fellini and his producers, cast, and crew, and together they pay a visit to Anita Ekberg in her country cottage. Last but not the least, Fellini foresees the end of the golden era to the cinema industry with the competition of television.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil