Editing Federico Fellini (section)

===Early films (1950–1953)===
[[File:Fellini masina delpoggio lattuada 1952.jpg|thumb|Fellini, Masina, Carla del Poggio and Alberto Lattuada, 1952]]
In 1950 Fellini co-produced and co-directed with Alberto Lattuada ''[[Variety Lights]]'' (''Luci del varietà''), his first feature film. A backstage comedy set among the world of small-time travelling performers, it featured Giulietta Masina and Lattuada's wife, [[Carla Del Poggio]]. Its release to poor reviews and limited distribution proved disastrous for all concerned. The production company went bankrupt, leaving both Fellini and Lattuada with debts to pay for over a decade.{{sfn|Kezich|2006|p=114}} In February 1950, ''Paisà'' received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay by Rossellini, [[Sergio Amidei]], and Fellini.

After travelling to Paris for a script conference with Rossellini on ''[[Europa '51]]'', Fellini began production on ''[[The White Sheik]]'' in September 1951, his first solo-directed feature. Starring [[Alberto Sordi]] in the title role, the film is a revised version of a treatment first written by [[Michelangelo Antonioni]] in 1949 and based on the ''fotoromanzi'', the photographed cartoon strip romances popular in Italy at the time. Producer [[Carlo Ponti]] commissioned Fellini and [[Tullio Pinelli]] to write the script but Antonioni rejected the story they developed. With [[Ennio Flaiano]], they re-worked the material into a light-hearted satire about newlywed couple Ivan and Wanda Cavalli ([[Leopoldo Trieste]], Brunella Bovo) in Rome to visit the Pope. Ivan's prissy mask of respectability is soon demolished by his wife's obsession with the White Sheik. Highlighting the music of [[Nino Rota]], the film was selected at Cannes (among the films in competition was [[Orson Welles]]'s ''[[Othello (1952 film)|Othello]]'') and then retracted. Screened at the [[13th Venice International Film Festival]], it was razzed by critics in "the atmosphere of a soccer match".{{sfn|Kezich|2006|p=128}} One reviewer declared that Fellini had "not the slightest aptitude for cinema direction".

In 1953, ''[[I Vitelloni]]'' found favour with the critics and public. Winning the Silver Lion Award in Venice, it secured Fellini his first international distributor.