Directing
Piero Heliczer
Born June 20, 1937 · Rome, Italy
Died July 22, 1993 · aged 56
Piero Heliczer was an Italian-American poet, publisher, actor and underground filmmaker associated with the New American Cinema.
Known For
Bicycle Thieves · 1948Bicycle Thieves
★ 8.21948
MovieDrama
Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.
Robin Hood · 1970Robin Hood
1970
Movie
"Considered to be Mr. Heliczer's most experimental film." - Piero Heliczer
Joan of Arc · 1967Joan of Arc
1967
Movie
The story of Joan of Arc as applied to the present revolution in arts and more. The Gothic is applied to the War in Vietnam. The film is experimental in the sense that in it the visual becomes tactile.
Bengasi · 1942Bengasi
★ 5.41942
MovieDramaWar
The film is set in 1941 during the Second World War, when the city of Benghazi in Italian-ruled Libya was occupied by British forces. Italian inhabitants of Benghazi work to resist the British and discover their military plans. One man, Captain Enrico Berti, appears to be collaborating with the British but is in fact working undercover for Italian intelligence. The film ends with the city being recaptured by Italian troops and their Nazi German allies.
The Stone Age · 1970The Stone Age
1970
Movie
"The question is, it is either going to be a stoned age or a new Stone Age" - Louis Brigante
No President · 1969No President
★ 5.01969
MovieDocumentaryDrama
Smith's third feature film was originally titled "The Kidnapping of Wendell Willkie by the Love Bandit," in reaction to the 1968 Presidential Campaign. It mixes B&W footage of Smith's creatures with old campaign footage of Willkie, a liberal Republican who ran against FDR in the 1940's. The climax of the work appears to be the "auctioning" of the presidential candidate at a convention.
Flaming Creatures · 1963Flaming Creatures
★ 4.81963
Movie
Filmmaker and artist Jack Smith described his own film as a “comedy set in a haunted movie studio.” Flaming Creatures begins humorously enough with several men and women, mostly of indeterminate gender, vamping it up in front of the camera and participating in a mock advertisement for an indelible, heart-shaped brand of lipstick. However, things take a dark, nightmarish turn when a transvestite chases, catches and begins molesting a woman. Soon, all of the titular “creatures” participate in a (mostly clothed) orgy that causes a massive earthquake. After the creatures are killed in the resulting chaos, a vampire dressed like an old Hollywood starlet rises from her coffin to resurrect the dead. All ends happily enough when the now undead creatures dance with each other, even though another orgy and earthquake loom over the end title card.
Venus in Furs · 1966Venus in Furs
★ 6.01966
Movie
Where a nun and a nurse go to hell because of their sinful life in St. Vincent's Hospital.
