The Best Films You’ve Never Seen: La Dolce Vita (1960) by Federico Fellini

SKIP TO CONTENT

The Best Films You’ve Never Seen: La Dolce Vita (1960) by Federico Fellini

22 Jul 2025
06:00pm - 09:15pm
$10
The Capitol RMIT, 113 Swanston Street, Melbourne

Book tickets

event header image

Escape Melbourne’s winter into the glamourous excesses of 1960s Rome with Federico Fellini’s masterpiece La Dolce Vita.

This landmark work of Italian cinema follows disillusioned journalist and failing novelist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) for seven days and nights as he drifts through the Eternal City in search of the “good life”. Amidst the decadence of high society during Italy’s post-war economic boom, Marcello encounters religious spectacle, hedonistic aristocrats, fading movie stars and disaffected intelligentsia, all swept up in a milieu characterised by celebrity-obsession, spiritual emptiness, and really great parties.  

In a career-defining performance, Mastroianni leverages his legendary charm to deliver a character who yearns for a sense of meaning and purpose while he submits to the temptations of a glamourous and empty life. Infused with this tension of beautiful excess, the film’s most iconic images --a giant statue of Christ being flown over the city and actress Anita Ekberg’s audacious midnight romp in the Trevi Fountain-- are as dazzling and provocative as ever.   

Condemned by the Vatican and subjected to widespread censorship at the time of its release, La Dolce Vita was nevertheless nominated for four Academy Awards and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1960. Today it is hailed as one of the greatest films of all time and is ranked #60 in Sight and Sound’s 2022 Greatest Films of All Time poll.  

Don’t miss your chance to experience Fellini’s visionary epic on the big screen at The Capitol.

You can read more about the film on the Senses of Cinema web page.

Presented by RMIT Culture in partnership with RMIT Cinema Studies

La Dolce Vita

Country: Italy

Year: 1960

Duration: 174 minutes

Language: Italian language, English subtitles

Format: DCP

Image credit: Film still, La Dolce Vita (1960), Courtesy Janus Films.

Book tickets

Share

Related events

The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place

05 Jun 2026 - 29 Aug 2026

'The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place' positions Australia at the centre of an ambitious global dialogue on conceptual art, influence and the circulation of ideas. Instigated and directed by Dr Irene Barberis, the project demonstrates how Australian scholarship and curatorial innovation can actively shape international discourse surrounding one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

Intercessions: On-Site with Axel Garay

14 Jul 2026 - 09 Aug 2026

Axel Garay's immersive exhibition, 'Intercessions', draws together a suite of multimedia works to consider how the ‘algorithmic age’ is affecting our ability to truly immerse deeply with our world, materials and selves.

Sol LeWitt: Recollections of a great artist and a wonderful friend. A talk by John Kaldor AO

30 Jul 2026

Join us for a lecture by esteemed art collector and founder of Kaldor Art Projects, John Kaldor AO, as he discusses his recollections of artist Sol LeWitt

Load more

aboriginal flag float-start

torres strait flag float-start

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

Learn more about our commitment to Indigenous cultures