The White Sheik
Plays 5/24 - Vacanze Romane
Newlywed Wanda (Brunella Bovo), on her honeymoon in Rome with her husband Ivan (Leopoldo Trieste), slips away to meet her idol, adventure magazine character The White Sheik (Alberto Sordi). In the words of film critic J. Hoberman: “Not only the first but also in some respects the most charming, least overweening film Fellini ever made — a comic fable of mass-produced fantasy and fanatical devotion.” Co-written by Michelangelo Antonioni.
4K restoration by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, in collaboration with RTI-Mediaset and Infinity, as part of Fellini 100. Restored from the original camera negative. Soundtrack negative provided by Studio Cine. Restoration carried out at L’immagine Ritrovata laboratory (Bologna)
Showtimes
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Saturday, May 24
VACANZE ROMANE
A Journey in the Dreamlife of Postwar Italian Cinema with Artist Sabina Streeter and a Screening of Federico Fellini’s The White Sheik
May 24th, 2025
Following the success of Tarnished Angels, its 2022 tribute to director Douglas Sirk and the Sirk-inspired art of local artist Sabina Streeter, Sag Harbor Cinema explores another film-related vein of the Munich-born painter’s work, combining a screening of Federico Fellini’s first feature film, The White Sheik, with an art exhibit on the Cinema’s third floor.
“Vacanze Romane” evolved from Streeter’s series “Tempeste di Primavera,” a group of paintings shown at MoMA PS1 in 1987, as well as in Berlin and Munich. The work is based on the popular mid-20th century phenomenon of the Italian Fotoromanzi, a genre of serialized, illustrated storytelling where the narrative is expressed through photographs enhanced with comic style word balloons. Appearing in general interest magazines, as well as in specially dedicated ones, Fotoromanzi came with catchy titles and often featured well known actors. Italian divas Sofia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida appeared in several Fotoromanzi at the beginning of their careers.
Many are stylistically inspired by the 40s and 50s Italian movie genre Telefoni Bianchi as well as the films by Vittorio de Sica, Dino Risi, and Federico Fellini. With emotional drama, humorous narratives and the optimism of postwar Italy, sometimes indulging in elegant settings while navigating love and social conflict, the films reflected a desire for escapism in contrast to the more gritty imagery of Italian neorealism.
On Saturday May 24th, the screening of Federico Fellini’s first film, The White Sheik (in which a young bride traveling to Rome ditches a visit with the Pope to meet her favorite fotoromanzo star, a dashing Arab prince improbably played by pudgy Alberto Sordi) will be followed by a Q&A with Sabina Streeter.