Fellini Fever

Caixa is a got-to-see museum!
Recently, my friend and I went to Caixa Forum Museum on Paseo el Prado, (close to El Prado and even closer to the good Pad Thai place ;) ).

The building is as alluring as the exhibits. The outside features a vertical garden on a wall, and a modern castle like building. There are currently two really great exhibits!
The first, entitled “Children,” is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rights of the Child Convention. It was drawn in 1989 to define and enforce the basic human rights that are for children anywhere and in any situation. Renowned Spainsh photographer Isabel Muñoz displays his photographs giving a picture of a child along with a short story glorifying the achievements he/she has managed to reach despite troubling situations. Muñoz used the portrait as a means to approach different cultures and expose injustices. Improve living environment for children and rights.

The other exhibit details the life of the famous Italian director, Federico Fellini accompanied by interesting photographs from his life and movies, old props and press, and clips of his movies on projection screens. Personally, I liked this exhibit more. I really enjoyed learning about his life and about his work, which is described as “private and personal, lyrical and poetic.” He was an innovative artist creating visually stimulating, paradoxical scenes, combining fantasy imagery with ordinary situations. His life and dreams were inspirations for his works.


5 MUST KNOW FACTS about FELLINI:
1. At age 12, Fellini ran away from home for a short time, to work as a circus clown.
2. Inspired by comics like Superman and the Hulk, he went to Florence to work as a well-known, sometimes controversial, caricaturist.
3. Entertainment Weekly voted him as the 10th Greatest Director of all time.
4. The term "paparazzi" comes from his movie, La Dolce vita, in which a character named Paparazzo plays a journalist photographing celebrities.
5. He was nominated for 4 Oscar awards under "Best Foreign Language Film" and won all 4. These movies were La Strada, Le Notti di Cabiria, 8½ and Amarcord.

The main character, Guido Contini, is based on Fellini for both the musical and movie "Nine.” You must see the movie, but for now here's a clip...