Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Federico Fellini, Giulietta, Marcello, Fiametta

I had the impression that the great director Federico Fellini stopped by my place a few days ago - so I invited him to come by our class.

 I had studied his films in college, and later when living in Rome there were sightings of him all over the city. Later, I met a number of people who worked with him, including the Roman actress Fiametta Baralla, the aunt of a fellow film school student Luca Bentivoglio.  I got to know Fiametta well, and her dog Romeo who was famous in her home town of Roma.

As a result, I felt fairly confident that we could chat with Fellini, because Fiametta knew him, worked with him - and I am a fan of his work, his wife's work - Giulietta Masini - and her work with Anthony Quinn. Some years later I worked with one of his sons Francesco. Once Francesco told me that his dad loved our film "Cannes Man." (For the record, Anthony Quinn was Mexican American as he mentions)

So this is a Italian celebrity filled session - Marcello Mastroianni stops by as well... which would be incredible to any fan of Italian cinema, but for many - like Jennifer, they are only vaguely familiar with these icons.  The discussion is fun and lively - given on March 11th, the day before my birthday. My birthday gift to myself was to have the amazing Jennifer Shaffer access people that I knew about and wished I might one day meet - and they report things that only those on the flipside could know

For example - I asked Fiametta if she was "met by Romeo" on the flipside - and no one on the planet but me knows that Romeo was a poodle - and the most famous poodle in Trastevere at one point. That fact alone - that she said "Is Romeo a dog?" demonstrates her abilities in this field.  Having done this with her for six years, I can't believe how fortunate I am to be able to do so.