May 9, 1963 - The noncompetitive gala showing of an American film, Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” got the 16th Cannes Film Festival off to a lively start tonight. The director was present at the evening screening with his star, Tippi Hedren (right). Tomorrow morning, Cannes indulges in a bit of traditional press agentry when several hundred pigeons, laboriously gathered from carrier coops along the Cote d’Azur, will be ceremoniously released in front of the festival palace by Miss Hedren and Mr. Hitchcock. The two-week festival will end May 23 with the showing of Federico Fellini’s new film, “8½.” The comedy-drama centers on Guido Anselmi, played by Marcello Mastroianni, a famous Italian film director who suffers from stifled creativity as he attempts to direct an epic science fiction film. Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk, Barbara Steele, and Eddra Gale portray the various women in Guido's life. The title is in keeping with Fellini's self-reflexive theme: the making of his eighth-and-a-half film. His previous six feature films included “The White Sheik” (1952), “I Vitelloni” (1953), “La Strada” (1954), “Il bidone” (1955), “Nights of Cabiria” (1957), and “La Dolce Vita” (1960). With Alberto Lattuada, he co-directed “Variety Lights” (1950). His two short segments included “Un'Agenzia Matrimoniale (A Marriage Agency)” in the omnibus film “Love in the City” (1953) and “Le Tentazioni del Dottor Antonio” from the omnibus film “Boccaccio ’70” (1962).
