After the end of his Hollywood career with 55 Days in Peking (1963), Nicholas Ray taught film at SUNY Binghamton between 1971 and 1973, where he collaborated with his students on the fascinating We Can’t Go Home Again, an experimental feature which remained a work-in-progress at the time of his death, in 1979.

Playing lightly fictionalised versions of themselves, Ray and his students created a capsule of the times in which they lived. Consisting of multiple overlaid images, the film was considered a fool’s errand by some and a visionary masterpiece by others when it received its premiere. (Notes by Kevin Coyne.)  

This event is part of our Films Maudits (cursed films) season running throughout August; focusing on films that have been unfairly maligned or overlooked on their original release. The term has it’s origins from a festival in 1949, curated by Jean Cocteau, amongst others, which celebrated these neglected and disregarded films.