introduced by Asst. Professor Nicholas Salvato (Theatre, Film & Dance) on Sept 19
"Famously difficult and evanescent experimental filmmaker Jack Smith has finally found a champion worthy of transmitting his rich legacy; Mary Jordan does an extraordinary job sorting through extensive material and gathering a who's who of collaborators and disciples" (Variety), offering an insightful portrait of the man whose recognition exploded in 1964 when his flamboyantly baroque fantasy film Flaming Creatures was banned and declared obscene by the New York Criminal Court. (It remains the only film ever banned in New York State). Along with Lenny Bruce's comedy and William Burroughs' Naked Lunch, Flaming Creatures became a landmark free speech issue. Because of its explicit pansexual representations and extravagantly queer erotica, Flaming Creatures drew an especially intense response, being labeled as pornographic. His case came to represent freedom of expression, not only in queer film, but also for improvised cinema, pop-art, and even punk rock. The film was both Smith's controversial triumph and his albatross, as he never again finished a work of art, but remained a self-destructive, paranoid character of the New York art scene until his death in 1989. "Jordan has succeeded beautifully in not only bringing out the man himself, but in explaining his key role in avant-garde art, and his influence on everyone from Warhol to Fellini." (Variety) more at jacksmithandthedestructionofatlantis.com Cosponsored with FGSS & LGBT Studies.
2007, color, 1 hour 34 minutes, USA