ZABRISKIE POINT Director: MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI 110 minutes, U.S.A., 1970, Colour, D-Cinema Book cinema tickets This film closes on Thursday, October 30th. IFI CLASSIC Following the success of Blow Up (1966), Antonioni had the opportunity to tell an American story and was inspired by a newspaper article he had read about a youth who had stolen an airplane in Phoenix. Roping Sam Shepard in to help with the script and heavily bankrolled by MGM, Antonioni embarked on the troubled production of a film that would examine the pervasive nature of big business, sympathise with student protests and the counter culture, feature a prolonged orgiastic love scene, include breathtaking panoramas of Death Valley and the Arizona desert, have a striking soundtrack provided by Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia and John Fahey, and climax with a mind-blowing explosion. The FBI watched him all the way, the film was dismissed by critics and blanked by audiences on release and it was to be Antonioni’s sole American venture; yet the ravishing beauty and admirable ambition of Zabriskie Point endures. (Notes by Michael Hayden.) ★★★★★ The Guardian Don’t forget we now schedule weekly. Director: MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI 110 minutes, U.S.A., 1970, Colour, D-Cinema