SALOME, SAlome, SAlomeSalomé in three acts, a mini-season featuring breathtaking and hypnotizing queer Salomé adaptations from Brazil, Mexico and the UK, presented by Cinema Mentiré, TGirls on Film and Token Homo.
3 & 5 JULY 2026 | The Garden Cinema
4 JULY 2026 | The Rio Cinema
Cinema Mentiré brings to the UK a retrospective of trailblazing Argentinian filmmaker María Luisa Bemberg (1922-1995) to celebrate her extraordinary legacy on the 30th anniversary of her passing. The programme at Ciné Lumière will include the London premiere of the newly restored copies of her most acclaimed films: the Oscar nominee and forever favourite Camila(1984)and Miss Mary(1986), led by a fascinating Julie Christie. The opening screenings will be followed by a drinks reception, with a glass of wine kindly offered by the Embassy of Argentina in the UK.DARING TO DARE will continue in July at Cinema Rediscovered in Bristol, with UK premieres of the new restorations of Nobody’s Wife (1982) and I, the Worst of All (1990), followed by a tour across the UK (see more info below).
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SALOMÉ
Dir. André Antônio, 2024, Brazil, 118min., UK premiere
Friday 3 July, 6.00 pm. Intro by Jaye Hudson from TGirls on Film*
The Garden Cinema - 39-41 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PQ
Cecília, a successful young model, returns to Recife, her hometown, to spend Christmas with her mother. One night, a neighbour she hadn’t seen for a long time, João, shows her a bottle containing a mysterious, intoxicating green substance. Cecília begins to fall in love with João, but also discovers that he is involved in a secret cult centred on the figure of Salome, the luxurious biblical princess.
Produced by Surto & Deslumbramento, a Recife-based independent queer filmmaking collective founded in 2012. SEE TRAILER
*TGirlsonFilm centers trans stories, artistry, and film history through moving image, creating space for trans audiences on and off screen. Featured in Little White Lies, The Face, and Autostraddle.
SALOME’S LAST DANCE
Dir. Ken Russell, 1988, UK/USA, 89min.
Saturday 4 July, 9.20 pm. Intro by XXXX*
At Rio Cinema - 107 Kingsland High St, London E8 2PB
Upon arriving at an all-male brothel where he is welcomed as a regular, controversial Irish scribe Oscar Wilde is treated to a surprise performance of his recently banned work of theatre, "Salome." As a group of prostitutes runs through a bizarre and bawdy version of the play -which retells the story of Herod, his daughter and the execution of John the Baptist- Wilde responds to the sexual advances of a handsome young man.
*[NAME INTRO] is the author of the PhD thesis A Transgressive Femininity: Narrative, Spectacle and Desire in the Films of María Luisa Bemberg.
SALOMÉ
Dir. Teo Hernández, 1976, Mexico/France, 65min.
Sunday 5 July, 8.00 pm. Intro by XXX*
The Garden Cinema - 39-41 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PQ
In his first feature film, Mexican experimental filmmaker Teo Hernández takes on the gospel story of Salome with a high camp aesthetic, midway between Mexican iconography and gay glitter. Largely shot in the filmmaker’s apartment, the film suspends veils, pearls, bodies, and sparkling objects in a black, depthless field where gesture becomes pure emanation. Colour, light, and variations of projection speed replace dramaturgy; bodies drift, wrap, veil, unveil, and dissolve, as boleros pulse against the image rather than comment on it. Desire presides over a world poised between ascetic severity and baroque excess.
*[NAME INTRO] is the author of the PhD thesis A Transgressive Femininity: Narrative, Spectacle and Desire in the Films of María Luisa Bemberg.
SALOME/SALOME/SALOME is a mini season done in collaboration with TGirls on Film and Token Homo.
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