Time of the Heathen

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 this May. An Arbelos release.