  8Â½ (italian title: otto e mezzo) is a 1963 italian-french comedy-drama film directed by federico fellini. co-scripted by fellini, tullio pinelli, ennio flaiano, and brunello rondi, it stars marcello mastroianni as guido anselmi, a famous italian film director. shot in black-and-white by cinematographer gianni di venanzo, the film features a soundtrack by nino rota with costume and set designs by piero gherardi. its title refers to fellini's eight and a half films as a director. his previous directorial work consisted of six features, two short segments, and a collaboration with another director, alberto lattuada, the collaboration accounting for a "half" film. 8Â½ won two academy awards for best foreign language film and best costume design (black-and-white). acknowledged as an avant-garde filmalberto arbasino (1963), review of 8Â½ in il giorno, 6 march 1963: "the film is a step forward in the history of novelistic form. the block structure of la dolce vita already paved the way in both cinema and littÃ©rature. otto et mezzo, however, not only outdistances by many years almost all films currently made but impacts our narrative at the most sensitive moment of the friction between convention and avant-garde, and may well provide a boost in the direction of the experimental, i.e. the future, as regards, among other things, the problems of being, of writing, and the relation
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