THE CITY THROUGH FILMS
Rome by Darius Khondji."In 1959 when Federico Fellini shot La Dolce Vita in Rome, my parents, my sister, and I arrived from Iran to eventually live in Rome.
In the beginning we stayed at the Excelsior Hotel on Veneto, one of the mythical streets in Rome for the film. One afternoon I accidentally
got lost in leaving the hotel, and later an Italian Carabinieri found me in the streets and brought me to the nuns at a convent near the Trinità dei Monti.
I stayed there guarded by the nuns for 3 days and 3 nights before my parents found me, thanks to a photo in the newspaper. The Carabinieri said that
they did not know what language I spoke (at the time I only knew Farsi), and that he and his wife could not have children and would’ve loved to adopt me
if no one had come to get me. I always thought that everything had already been predestined when I got lost that year, in the heart of great Italian
cinema of the era. Later I learned Italian almost fluently and I developed a passion for Italy and its cinema of the fifties, sixties and seventies."
1. "8½" directed by Federico Fellini, 1963.⠀
2. "La Dolce Vita" directed by Federico Fellini, 1960.
3. "The Eclipse" directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962.
4. "Umberto D." directed by Vittorio De Sica, 1952.
5. "Nights of Cabiria" directed by Federico Fellini, 1957.
See the films scenes on www.instagram.com/goandseemagazine
Darius Khondji is a cinematographer. His latest film "Uncut Gems" directed by Benny and Josh Safdie, will be released in late 2019.
