Flaming Creatures

16MM, BLACK AND WHITE, MONO, 45 MINUTES, USA, NO DIALOGUE / DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: JACK SMITH / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: CANYON CINEMA, 1963

Flaming Creatures features an Arabian harem of erotically possessed creatures amid a wild bacchanalia that blurs all gender and sexual norms. Banned in 22 states of the US and four countries, the film was subject to an obscenity case that famously reached the US Supreme Court. The scandal around Flaming Creatures, the only film Smith actually completed, made the artist determined never to complete another film. Smith would later assert the discourse about censorship and sexuality that was generated prevented audiences from appreciating its intended humour.