Herostratus

Herostratus

Synopsis

When Max, a young poet (played by the iconic Michael Gothard) hires a marketing company to turn his suicide-by-jumping into a mass-media spectacle, he finds that his subversive intentions are quickly diluted into a reactionary gesture, and his motivations are revealed as a desperate attempt to seek attention through celebrity.

Unseen since its limited release in 1967, this audacious and prescient – yet criminally overlooked – work by experimental filmmaker Don Levy left a profound mark on the landscape of late-1960s British cinema, with echoes of its visual style evident in the most celebrated work of such notable directors as Stanley Kubrick, Nicolas Roeg and Michael Winner.

Film Listing

- Punulse (1967, 2 mins)
- Malaise (1967, 2 mins)
- Catharsis (1967, 2 mins)
- Point Of Noon (1968, 2 mins)
- Black Ice (1967, 2 mins)

Special Features

- Interview with Don Levy (1973), the only known recording of Levy discussing Herostratus
- Ten Thousand Talents (1960, 24 mins): Levy’s student film, set in Cambridge, featuring the voice of Peter Cook
- Time Is (1964, 29 mins): Levy’s remarkable experimental documentary
- Booklet with commissioned contributors and original documentation

Technical Specs

Director: Don Levy
Year: 1967
Duration: 137 min