Marcello Di Fellini Illuminates the Origins of a Cinematic Icon
April 2025 — Amfitheatron Publishing — What shaped the dreamworld of Federico Fellini? In Marcello Di Fellini, author Lea Celik Sommerseth Shaw draws back the curtain on the early life of the man who would become a legend of surrealist cinema. With lush prose and poetic insight, the book traces Fellini’s humble beginnings in Rimini to his formative years as an artist and storyteller, long before his name lit up the silver screen.
“Federico Fellini, a name synonymous with cinematic surrealism and dreamlike narratives, emerged from a relatively modest background in Rimini, Italy… His childhood experiences, filled with the sights and sounds of a small Italian town, the fantastical tales spun by his grandmother, and the anxieties of a rapidly changing world, would become the fertile ground from which his unique cinematic vision would blossom.”
Through a vivid, literary lens, Lea explores Fellini’s transformation from a curious boy sketching caricatures to an emerging voice within the Neorealist movement, working alongside Roberto Rossellini. The book is both a tribute and a journey: part biography, part origin myth, wholly unforgettable.
Marcello Di Fellini is available this spring through Amfitheatron. More information and early access can be found at www.amfitheatron.com.
About the Author
Lea Celik Sommerseth Shaw is a multidisciplinary entrepreneur, creative director, environmentalist, and human rights advocate with a deep-rooted passion for cinema, literature, and cultural diplomacy. Born on the Aegean coast of İzmir and of Kurd and Russian heritage, she brings a rich, multicultural perspective to her work bridging ancestral memory with contemporary inquiry marks a return to Lea’s lifelong fascination with cinema
