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Filmmaker Chelsea McMullan’s emphatic new short documents the surreal myths surrounding Federico Fellini’s infamous unmade film Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna Detto Fernet (The Journey of G. Mastorna called Fernet), the story of a man living unknowingly in the afterlife. The avant-garde director described the project as his life’s curse, and legend has it that a magician once told Fellini that if he made the picture, it would be the last thing he ever did. Premiering at September’s Toronto Film Festival, Deragliamenti (Derailments)––an exclusive edit of which we present above––explores the tribulations surrounding the prospective movie and the La Dolce Vita director’s decision to produce the metaphysical tale as a comic strip with artist Milo Manara instead. “Manara saw himself as a vehicle through which Fellini could rid himself of the negativity,” explains McMullan. “The comic is less a visual adaptation of the film and more Fellini coming to terms with the approach of death.” In an eerie fulfillment of the magician’s prophecy, Il Maestro passed away six months after the publication of its first installment, making the comic strip the final project he ever worked on. We talked to McMullen about the enduring influence of the legendary Italian.