Creative Films for Creative Corporations: Music and Musicians in Experimental Italian Industrial Films

The chapter proposes to consider the involvement of Italian avant-garde composers as a relevant feature for the definition of an experimental sub-genre of Italian industrial film of the “golden age,” ranging from the early 1960s, with the peak around 1965, to the early 1970s, when production was limited to sporadic cases. In that period, prestige films produced or commissioned by such Italian companies as Edison, ENI, Fiat, Innocenti, Italsider, and Olivetti offered experimental composers significant income, which explains their frequent collaboration. This implies that such composers were considered as expressive resources in these films. The presence of their music had a direct influence on the reputation of the companies concerned, and hence on the “corporate image.” They contributed with other artistic collaborators to authenticate these films as “avant-garde” productions and provided them with strong musical and sonic impact.