Herostratus (NC) [Phantoscope]

142 mins – United Kingdom 1967 – Dir: Don Levy
Starring: Michael Gothard, Gabriella Licudi and Helen Mirren
 
Phantoscope, Triskel’s quarterly experimental cinema programme, is pleased to present one of the most striking, radical and phantasmagoric films to have burst out of the UK in the creatively turbulent late ‘60s. Herostratus follows a young poet played by Michael Gothard who, out of ennui and a desire for fame, arranges to commit suicide in public and turn this act into a high-profile media spectacle. This blistering critique of consumerism is emotionally intense, cinematically dazzling and still frighteningly relevant. It also features a young Helen Mirren in her first credited film role.
 
“A passionate, exhausting and disturbing film” Monthly Film Bulletin