Time of the Heathen

Ends Thursday!

For his first and only feature, theater actor-director (and protégée of Clifford Odets) Peter Kass put a politically charged twist on the wrong-man thriller, resulting in a work of enveloping atmosphere that visionarily explores the post-traumatic delirium of war. Set in New York four years after the bombing of Hiroshima, the film follows a bible-carrying drifter named Gaunt (John Heffernan), who, after witnessing the rape and murder of a Black woman, is framed and pursued by locals while left as the sole protector of the woman’s young son. Time of the Heathen is at once a slow-dawning reckoning of collective guilt and complicity, a tense chase film, and a radical formal experiment featuring collaborations with key figures of the American avant-garde—among them Ed Emshwiller, who shot and co-edited the film, and composer Lejaren Hiller. Long thought lost and newly restored in 4K, Film at Lincoln Center is pleased to present the film’s first-ever New York theatrical run. An Arbelos release.

Restored in 4K in 2023 by UCLA Film & Television Archive and Lightbox Film Center, University of the Arts at Illuminate Hollywood laboratory, in collaboration with Corpus Fluxus and Audio Mechanics from the 35mm picture, the soundtrack negative and the original 1/4” stereo master recording of Lejaren Hiller’s score. Funding provided by Ron and Suzanne Naples.