This dissertation explores Italian experimental cinema from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. Due to limited existing research, this study serves as an initial step in addressing this gap. It aims to provide a flexible framework for understanding the genesis, features, and potential development of the film strand in question. The concepts of utopia and ephemerality are of paramount significance within this framework. My philosophical foundation concerning utopia is based on Ernst Bloch’s works. Furthermore, I draw upon the insights of Peter Sloterdijk, Walter Benjamin, and Henri Bergson to present a perspective on the ephemeral in Western thought. The decision to concentrate on the late 1960s and early 1970s is based on the conviction that this period represents the pinnacle of Italian experimental cinema, as asserted by a number of prominent Italian scholars, including Adriano Aprà, Bruno Di Marino, Sandra Lischi, and Linò Miccichè. The analysis encompasses a study of Cooperativa Cinema Indipendente, which represented the sole film cooperative managed by Italian experimental filmmakers. It also considers the interplay between Italian visual artists and experimental cinema, as well as the theoretical insights on film language by Italian experimental filmmakers themselves. The argument put forth is that the concepts of utopia and ephemerality can be employed to construct a theoretical framework for situating the work of most filmmakers of that period. In each case, the fulfillment of specific expectations by these individuals is understood to be a failure, in conjunction with the emergence of problematic circumstances, setbacks, or conceptual inconsistencies. This tendency indicates a sense of transience, reflecting a departure from initial expectations and hinting at the potential continuation of these expectations in different forms. In its pursuit of an avant-garde identity, Cooperativa Cinema Indipendente intersects with militant cinema. In her films, art installations, and discontinued involvement in filmmaking, the case of Marinella Pirelli exemplifies a pure cinematic ideal within the context of the dematerialization of art. Finally, Carmelo Bene’s ideas about cinema propose a view on the concept of cinema in opposition to itself. This notion is echoed in subsequent work by film directors and film scholars.