Heat Wave

"A movie from the past that's also eerily of a piece with the film culture of now and tomorrow."—Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

An experiment in hybrid documentary filmmaking that was far ahead of its time, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, follows the pioneering director William Greaves playing a version of himself as he presides over a beleaguered film crew on hot a summer day in Central Park in 1968, leaving them to try to figure out what kind of movie they’re making. With three film crews working simultaneously, we follow the process of the bewildered participants in Greaves' meta-exercise that defies simple summation. The landmark work that resulted remains one of the most innovative uses of the form—a cheeky and inventive film whose experimentation of form remains playful and engaging throughout its breezy runtime.