Les Bains-Douches, Alençon

The Invisible Father (2020) — Piero Heliczer — 60 min

Directed by Therese Casper, Piero Heliczer’s daughter, The Invisible Father explores the life and work of this Beat poet, experimental filmmaker and avant-garde artist, who helped shape the New American Cinema movement of the 1960s. A close associate of Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground in their early days, he moved in New York’s underground circles, alongside key figures such as John Cale, Barbara Rubin, Gerard Malanga, Jonas Mekas and Anne Waldman.

Through interviews with family members and friends, rediscovered photographs and archival footage, the film traces his singular journey, deeply rooted in poetry, experimental cinema and alternative cultural scenes. From Rome to New York, Paris and Amsterdam, and eventually to France, where he spent the final years of his life in the Orne region of Normandy, the film paints a portrait of a free-spirited and elusive figure of the avant-garde.

Bernard Poujol, Les Friches (1972) — 7 min

The screening will open with Les Friches, a seven-minute film shot on 8mm by Bernard Poujol in 1972 in Préaux-du-Perche, in the Orne region of Normandy. Presented for the first time in its digitised version, this rare film offers a more intimate glimpse into Piero Heliczer’s life and his time in the region.

The title refers to the house where he lived in Préaux-du-Perche. The footage documents his life in the Orne, where he settled after moving through various international art scenes shaped by Beat poetry, experimental cinema and counterculture. The film’s digitisation now offers a rare opportunity to discover rarely seen images and bring to light a distinctive record of the artist and his deep connection to the local area.

In 1972, Les Friches was screened at the American Center in Paris as part of a programme organised by the Paris Filmmakers Cooperative, alongside films by Piero Heliczer and Bruce Conner.