The Long Voyage

One fine day Federico Fellini, Giulietta Masina, Gradisca, Cabiria, Zampanò and lots of other characters from his films, set sail in a ship together on a convivial cruise. This could have been the plot for an autobiographical film, one of the many that Fellini imagined without actually making; instead, this is the thread that keeps the whole thing together like a fairy tale, an idea and script by Tonino Guerra (who accompanies the shots with his voice), with a cartoon made in Russia and directed by Andrej Khrzhanovskij, one of the most acclaimed Russian animation directors. In a certain sense Dolgoe putescestvie is also a Fellini film: because the animated figures in it are based on the hundreds of portraits, sketches, and outlines that the Rimini-born director used to draw during the preparatory phase of his works, either on the set or on a piece of paper at a restaurant after having noticed a face that interested him for some reason. “It all began with a dream that I really had,” said Tonino Guerra, Fellini’s lifelong friend. “I dreamt I went aboard the Rex with Federico, Giulietta and a bunch of his characters. A trivial idea, that led to my story.” (Venice International Film Festival)