Where Everything Seems to Begin: Antonioni and Branca in the United States circa 1968

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on two films made by Italian directors in the United States at the end of the 1960s, Seize the Time by Antonello Branca (1970) and Zabriskie Point by Michelangelo Antonioni (1970). Very different in style, production, and intended audiences, Antonioni’s and Branca’s films share themes and atmosphere, they are both immersed in the political environment of the time and they are examples of Italian transnational cinema and Italian representations of the United States. In different ways, they show how, in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s words, ‘in America … everything is going to begin’, but they are also examples of the failure of this potential new beginning.