Amarcord

Amarcord
Original movie poster, by John Alcorn
Directed by	Federico Fellini
Produced by	Franco Cristaldi
Written by	Federico Fellini Tonino Guerra
Starring	Bruno Zanin Magali Noël Pupella Maggio Armando Brancia
Music by	Nino Rota
Cinematography	Giuseppe Rotunno
Edited by	Ruggero Mastroianni
Distributed by	PIC Distribuzione (IT) Warner Bros. (International) New World Pictures (US)
Release date	18 December 1973 (1973-12-18) (Italy)
Running time	124 minutes
Country	Italy France
Language	Italian

Amarcord is a 1973 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale about Titta, an adolescent boy growing up among an eccentric cast of characters in the village of Borgo San Giuliano (situated near the ancient walls of Rimini) in 1930s Fascist Italy. The film's title (pronounced [amarˈkɔrd]) is a univerbation of the Romagnol phrase "a m'arcord" ("I remember"). The title then became a neologism of italian language with the meaning of nostalgic revocation.

Titta's sentimental education is emblematic of Italy's "lapse of conscience." Fellini skewers Mussolini's ludicrous posturings and those of a Catholic Church that "imprisoned Italians in a perpetual adolescence" by mocking himself and his fellow villagers in comic scenes that underline their incapacity to adopt genuine moral responsibility or outgrow foolish sexual fantasies.

The film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Director and Best Writing, Original Screenplay.

A young woman hanging clothes on a line happily points out the arrival of "manine" or puffballs floating on the wind. The old man pottering beside her replies, "When puffballs come, cold winter’s done." In the village square, schoolboys jump around trying to pluck puffballs out of the air. Giudizio (Aristide Caporale), the town idiot, looks into the camera and recites a poem to spring and the swirling, drifting "manine."