Week 4 (July 12 – 18) – Roots of the Underground: Film-makers’ Coop
The Film-Makers’ Cooperative is a non-profit dedicated to experimental and avant-garde cinema; almost all of the most well-known American experimental filmmakers have had works in their catalogue at some point.
Flaming Creatures is largely non-narrative, transgressive joy. Smith, a visionary working with a shoestring budget of just $300, captured an ensemble of drag performers, intersex and gender-ambiguous actors on a rooftop on the Lower East Side. The action is disjointed, a chaotic, hypnotic loop of lipstick commercials, mock advertisements and eventually, a raucous orgy interrupted by an earthquake. When the earth quakes and the creatures collapse, it takes a vampire who closely resembles Marilyn Monroe to reignite them, sparking a new round of dancing. It is, in the truest sense, a film about the texture of dreams.
The cast is a who’s-who of the underground scene, many of whom were featured in Smith’s earlier photography collection, The Beautiful Book, like Mario Montez, Francis Francine, Sheila Bick, Joel Markman and Judith Malina.
Shot on a borrowed 16mm Bolex, the film’s distinctively foggy, high-contrast look wasn’t just a stylistic choice. It was the result of Smith’s use of out-of-date, often stolen Army surplus film stock. He was heavily influenced by the visual extravagance of director Josef von Sternberg and the exotic intensity of 1940s star Maria Montez. The soundtrack, a mesmerizing tape collage of pasodobles and music like Ernesto Lecuona’s “Siboney,” was curated by Smith’s roommate, the legendary experimental musician Tony Conrad.
This film became a massive cultural lightning rod. Screenings were raided by police, prints were seized, and their organizers—including Jonas Mekas and Ken Jacobs—faced obscenity trials. It became a cause célèbre for the New American Cinema, with heavyweights like Susan Sontag mounting a fierce defense. The political fallout was legendary; years later, even Supreme Court nominee Abe Fortas found his career scrutinized for his refusal to label the film obscene. Flaming Creatures was essentially driven into forced obscurity, and for a long time, the original negative was even feared lost. Thanks to the efforts of people like critic J. Hoberman and performer Penny Arcade, who oversaw a painstaking restoration after Smith’s passing, we have this art to enjoy.
You can watch this on The Cave of Forgotten Films.
