Special Screenings
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
"The Flesh and The Devil: 4 programmes exploring the notorious, controversial, scandalous films of the 1920s"
PARADISE THEATRE 1006c Bloor St. W
Buy tickets in Advance or at the door (if not sold out)
JANUARY 18TH 2PM Tickets
SALOME 1922/1923
Alla Nazimova
Live Accompaniment by Tania Gill
“Seen through 21st century eyes, SALOMÉ is a phantasmagoria of striking images, unbridled sensuality, and fearless storytelling. It also leaves the viewer with the lingering sense that if Alla Nazimova had the good fortune to come along a hundred years later than she did, she’d have found a world with its arms thrust wide open to embrace the groundbreaking artist that she was.” – Martin Turnbull, Library of Congress
What Alla Nazimova and her designer Natasha Rambova set out to create was a complete work of art that united design, acting gestures, and staging to achieve a type of “silent ballet”. Heavily inspired by artist & subversive enfant terrible Aubrey Beardsley’s Art Nouveau drawings for Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play, the aesthetic achieved both a stylishly modern and ancient mystical feel. Adorned in costumes and wigs that would make Lady Gaga envious, her extraordinary performance, as the impulsive princess, who after her seductive dance in front of her stepfather Herod, demands the head of John the Baptist, is nothing short of mesmerizing in concept and execution.
In her homage to Wilde, Nazimova also reportedly used a predominantly queer cast for the film she wrote (under a pen name), co-directed (uncredited) and produced. Although a financial disaster and dismissed when initially released, Salomé has since been celebrated as the first queer cult film and a masterpiece of Art Nouveau & early Art Deco design.“This adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play boasts a healthy streak of vulgarity of which Wilde, one suspects, would have secretly approved.” – Time Out
Co-presented by the Queer Cinema Club
Saturday February 22, 2025 2pm
Flesh and the Devil 1926
Directed by Clarence Brown
Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lars Hanson
Saturday May 24, 2025 2pm
Casanova 1927
PAST SCREENINGS 2023-2024
Haxan -Pt 1 of The Flesh & The Devil November 2024- Paradise
Sparrows June 2024- Paradise
The Lodger November 2023 -Fox Theatre
Keaton Palooza II- Fox Theatre
The Hunchback of Notre Dame -Fox Theatre
Keaton Palooza- Fox Theatre
PAST CO-PRESENTATIONS
October 2024 Ambient Light Film Series-Henderson Brewery
Summer 2024 Modern Times -Toronto Outdoor Picture Show
DECEMBER 8 2023 TIFF-SILVER SCREENINGS/LUBITSCH TOUCH: ROSITA
OCTOBER 2023 TORONTO FILM SOCIETY: (online) CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
CO-PRESENTATIONS IN 2022/2023
MAY 12- GOETHE INSTITUT TORONTO: THE CHASE AFTER MILLIONS 1930 live music by SlowPitchSound
JUNE 12- TORONTO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL: BROKEN BARRIERS live music by Mamaliga Klezmer Band
SEPT 29- TORONTO FILM SOCIETY: LEAP YEAR (ONLINE) part of the World Silent Film Day
FEB 5- TORONTO FILM SOCIETY: THIEF OF BAGDAD
FEB 13-TORONTO FILM SOCIETY: SAFETY LAST -CENTENARY SCREENING
SEPT. TORONTO FILM SOCIETY: SUNRISE