Purchase
AUDITION (35mm) presented by Asif Kapadia (18)
As part of our ongoing Rio Forever celebrations, we’re delighted to welcome back Oscar-winning film director and homegrown Hackney hero Asif Kapadia to introduce another of his favourite films: Takashi Miike’s relentless, clinical horror masterpiece AUDITION.
A (literally) piercing critique of Japanese masculinity featuring one of the most upsetting climactic sequences in movie history, Audition starts out like a cosy, slightly oddball romantic dramedy, as a widowed filmmaker sets up a fake casting call to find himself a new wife. But just when he thinks he’s found the perfect woman - meek, tender and oh so pretty - everything goes hideously, shockingly, gloriously wrong.
The director of (among many others) Senna, Amy, Diego Maradona and 2073, Asif Kapadia will discuss the film’s impact on him both as a filmmaker and a movie fan.
AUDITION is shown in Japanese with English subtitles.
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BITTER CHRISTMAS (15)
Raúl
is a cult filmmaker in the midst of a creative crisis. When tragedy
strikes one of his closest collaborators, he draws inspiration from it
to write his next film. Little by little, he imagines Elsa, a filmmaker
in the midst of writing a script, whose journey begins to mirror his
own. The
two filmmakers become two sides of the same character, in a game of
mirrors where the raw honesty of autofiction reveals as much as it
destroys. But how far can one go to tell a story?
BITTER CHRISTMAS is shown in Spanish with English subtitles.
BLUE FILM (18)
A provocative psychological thriller following a swaggering fetish camboy (Kieron Moore) who accepts a private house call, only to discover a personal connection: his masked client (Birney) is his former middle-school teacher and a convicted sex offender.
“Queer cinema, by its very name, is meant to challenge. It challenges the establishment, it challenges perceptions and it challenges the viewer. Blue Film is perfect Queer Cinema; the film raises important, difficult questions and refuses to provide easy answers,”
Tom Abell, Peccadillo Pictures
Content warning for references to child sex abuse and sexual violence.
CANDYMAN + Book Launch (15)
- To celebrate the launch of new satirical haunted house novel THE CRACKS, join genre fiction leaders Titan Books and Hackney-based author T.H. Huddleston for a screening of the original (and best) hook-handed horror classic. Just don't say his name five times...A visually sumptuous and texturally rich urban-Gothic slasher fantasy from British director Bernard Rose (Paperhouse, ivansxtc), CANDYMAN explores timely ideas of race, class, gentrification and inequality in the city of Chicago, and specifically the notorious Cabrini Green housing project.
While it takes place in a very different setting - an English country mansion with a gruesome past - THE CRACKS investigates similar themes of class privilege, historical injustice and how the spirit of the past always infuses the present.
Join us for drinks in the bar and a chance to buy a copy of this brand new book from7.30pm, before we repair to the Rio's wonderful screen one at 8.30pm to enjoy a film that doesn't get screened nearly as much as it deserves to!
This screening will feature a brief introduction by author of The Cracks, Tom Huddleston.
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Carers & Babies: TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA (15)
After years of slapdash sequels
and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to
an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the
original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two
women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium.
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Category H: MALATESTA’S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD + FINAL DESTINATION 3 (18)
The smell of doughnuts and candyfloss, vomiting on the waltzers and rides that probably haven’t passed any kind of safety test - don’t we all have fond memories of the fun fair? At Category H Film Club, we’re bringing the terror of the fairground Rio’s screen two with a late night double bill of MALATESTA’S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD + FINAL DESTINATION 3, as we enjoy A Night At The Funfair.
Malatesta’s Carnival Of Blood is a surreal atmospheric tale of terror, with stunning sets and a constant creeping dread. After a couple's young son goes missing while working at a dilapidated funfair, they decide to take matters into their own hands and begin working at the carnival in order to uncover the truth behind his disappearance. Thanks to shut down rides, several sudden deaths and the pallid complexion of the employees, it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary funfair, but what will become of the latest hires? The most famous work from filmmaker and children’s theatre director Christopher Speeth, Malatesta’s Carnival Of Blood remains rarely screened and often overlooked.
After a short break, we will return to the screen for Final Destination 3! A beloved entry into the Final Destination franchise, this features one of the most famous funfair setpieces in all of horror cinema. Although the familiar theme of premonitions and control return, Final Destination 3 is a stand alone film which sees a new cast of characters attempting to cheat death as they befall increasingly bizarre disasters. If you’re not already afraid of rollercoasters, you will never look at them the same after this!
Find out if this ride will be your last only on the 12th September, 23:30-late at the Rio Cinema.
Category H Films is a horror film club programmed by Molly Miles and Scary Claire. Find them on Instagram as @categoryhfilms.
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Category H: SEYTAN + THE FLY (18)
For this edition of Category H horror film clubs ongoing season Rio Forever/Rio Never, we investigate the nebulous world of horror Remakes with a late night double bill of SEYTAN X THE FLY. This 25th of September, 23:30-late, only at the Rio Cinema.
So often, horror remakes cast a Western lens on non Western production. So, what happens when this is reversed and Hollywood is the one being reworked? This is exactly what happens in SEYTAN, aka “Turkish Exorcist”, a roughly shot for shot remake of William Friedkin’s academy award winning The Exorcist. Following the same plot, a young girl becoming possessed by demonic forces, SEYTAN explores Islam instead of Catholicism while still featuring all the headspinning the original had to offer. Directed by winner of the Golden Bear Metin Erksan (Dry Summer), SEYTAN offers a truly bizarre entry into Turkey’s history of low budget remakes. Although the Rio has a rich relationship with screening Turkish cinema, this will be the very first time SEYTAN has ever been shown here.
Afterwards, settle in for David Cronenberg’s classic eco body horror, THE FLY. A remake of 1958 film of the same name, THE FLY follows a scientist who accidentally fuses his DNA with that of a fly. As he slowly begins to mutate into something more than human, it becomes clear that he might not be able to stop what he started. While the original transformed Vincent Price into a major horror star, Cronenberg’s remake stars Jeff Goldblum in his breakout role as an eccentric scientist trying to get to grips with what he has done to his body. Forty years since it was first released, THE FLY remains one of the most searing and grotesque body horror films.
Rio Forever/Rio Never Ever is a season curated by Category H horror film club as part of the Rio Cinema’s Rio Forever celebrations. Running from April-November 2026, Rio Forever/Rio Never Ever consists of double bills where one film has been shown at the Rio before, while the other has never graced the cinemas silver screen. Expect unusual pairings and plenty of surprises as we honor the cinema's rich archive, and celebrate our diverse history of late night screenings.
Category H is a late night horror film club programmed by Molly Miles and Scary Claire. Keep up with their screenings on Instagram @categoryhfilms and feel free to message them there with any questions about the screening.
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Classic Matinee: LOCAL HERO (12A)
Classic Matinee
LOCAL HERO
dir. Bill Forsyth | UK | 1983
For our September Classic Matinee, we’re heading to the windswept Scottish coast with LOCAL HERO, Bill Forsyth’s much-loved comedy-drama about place, belonging and the value of what cannot be bought...
When an ambitious American oil executive is sent to a remote Highland village to purchase the land for a new refinery, he expects a straightforward business deal. Instead, he finds himself captivated by the landscape, the wildlife and the eccentric community who call it home. Gentle, funny and quietly profound, LOCAL HERO is a charming celebration of people, place and our connection to the natural world, elevated by Burt Lancaster’s memorable performance and Mark Knopfler’s evocative score.
Classic Matinee is our monthly senior screening, with tickets just £2.50 for those over 60, plus free tea, coffee and biscuits for all! Screenings are relaxed and accessible, with the lights left partially on throughout and a mid-film intermission. It's a welcoming chance to socialise and enjoy the full 1930s atmosphere of the Rio, with the circle open for the classic cinema experience.
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Contemporary 75 & Club Des Femmes: CARRY GREENHAM HOME + MARCH TO ALDERMASTON (35mm + Discussion) (15)
Contemporary 75 in association with Club des Femmes presents
IN PROTEST OF THE BOMB
Two milestone films of anti-nuclear activism from the 1950s and 1980s, as relevant today as ever.
For four days during Easter, 1958, thousands marched from Trafalgar Square to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Hampshire. The resulting film, MARCH TO ALDERMASTON, a voluntary work by anonymous film technicians including Lindsay Anderson and Karel Reitz, was partly funded by Contemporary Films and serves as a testament to public solidarity against a grave new threat, a formative moment for CND and the new left, and a notable work from the auspices of the ‘Free Cinema’ movement in Britain.
Filmed over seven months in 1982-3 by young film students Beeban Kidron and Amanda Richardson, with the vital support of the women they document, CARRY GREENHAM HOME provides an up-close view of the fierce oppositional force Greenham women mounted against the siting of a nuclear arsenal in Berkshire. The Greenham Common Peace Camp was shining example of non-violent feminist action, changing both lives and laws. “The women of Greenham Common taught a generation how to protest”, noted Beeban Kidron. Shot on video, its depiction of the courage, creativity and humour of the Greenham women contrasted greatly at the time with mainstream media portraits, giving greater insight into their motivations, and remains a seminal work of British feminism on film.
This event will feature an introduction by Ade Cooper from Contemporary Films. There will also be a post-screening panel discussion with Selina Robertson, Beeban Kidron, Amanda Richardson and Guy Westwell.
Presented by Contemporary 75 in association with Club des Femmes.
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Doc'n Roll: HAKEEM (+ Q&A and Acoustic Set) (15)
Doc'n Roll presents
HAKEEM (+ Q&A and Acoustic Set)
dir. DEADHORSES | UK | 2024
Doc’n Roll is delighted to be part of The Music is Black Festival from East Bank and to bring a special event to the Rio Cinema celebrating one of London’s most distinctive contemporary musicians, Hak Baker.
The evening will include a special screening of Hakeem, live Q&A, and an intimate acoustic performance by Hak Baker, offering audiences a unique opportunity to hear directly from Hak about his journey, creative process, and the experiences that have shaped his career.
Hak’s story is one of resilience, creativity, and community, making him an inspiring figure for a new generation of artists and music fans alike.
Synopsis
An unconventional music documentary for a very unconventional musician, this film follows British singer and rapper Hak Baker over five years. Directed by the filmmaking duo of DEADHORSES (James Topley and Ivo Beckett), Hakeem balances profundity and profanity as Baker confronts the traumas of class and masculinity in the wake of his sudden stardom. An anarchic yet sincere portrait of British lad culture, full of arresting aesthetics and savage honesty, this is more than a chronicle of a musician's life – it’s a fascinating and intimate portrait of existential angst, brotherhood and hope in the face of the taboos that surround male mental health.
The Music is Black Festival from East Bank at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a celebration of Black British music across a full programme of events including four live festival weekends. Led by the artists, creators and collectives who built its legacy and shape what’s next, this is where sound lives and culture moves.
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Dream Emulator: BENEATH THE BLISTERED MOON (18)
The blistered moon whispers a welcome to the eldritch abominations of a twisted internet. We’re wearing our love of all things cosmic horror on our shimmering sleeves tonight, this screening is a celebration of the myriad anomalous destinations digital culture has taken the otherworldly horrors popularised by the H.P Lovecraft’s Cthulu Mythos. We’ll be showcasing a blend of machinima, shorts, animation, and video game footage that resonate with cosmic horror through the lens and media of digital / internet culture.
Launching Dream Emulator’s season of Folk and Cosmic horror delights, the horror on display here is rooted in the fear of the other and the unknown, those things outside of oneself and of one’s perception, whether that be the shadow in the corner of your eye or the Blind Idiot God Azathoth whose dream hosts the entire known universe. Expect everything from Creepypasta adaptations to somber meditations on alienation from those who want nothing but to worship you, but cause harm in their inability to learn how.
This is the first of 2 screenings and a rave celebrating the digitally entangled legacy of Folk and Cosmic Horror, as well the ongoing marvels of folk storytelling kept alive through collaborative internet horror projects.
A zine is included with every ticket purchase, which will contain a discount code for any other events in this season.
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Dream Emulator: SUFFER THE SILENT SUN – FOLK HORROR IN OUR DIGITAL IMAGINATIONS (18)
The ritual is in place, the village has assembled, an old god emerges from a hole in the ground, the JPEG stutters, they all turn at once, towards you, on the other side of the screen. We’re gathered here today to experience the echoes of oral traditions through the lens of the internet's own horrific folklore, the Chinese whispers persisting in the digital imaginations of a web culture that must let the horrors persist. Expect itch.io oddities, found footage, anomalous animations, and many more.
Dream Emulator (@dreamemulator.mp4) invites you to explore the folk horror found throughout internet pop culture, from creepypastas and ARGs to immersive game experiences. Folk horror has always embraced the influence of oral storytelling traditions, repeating stories with changes to reflect the context in which they’re retold, and the democratised storytelling of internet horror subcultures is no different. We look forward to hosting a horror closer to home, the fear running through this programme is of your community, country, land, or even home. The things you’ve known your whole life to be safe suddenly become, or perhaps always were, monsters in their own right.
This is the 2nd of 2 screenings and a rave celebrating the digitally entangled legacy of Folk and Cosmic Horror, as well the ongoing marvels of folk storytelling kept alive through collaborative internet horror projects.
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EVERYBODY DIGS BILL EVANS (15)
Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026
Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a
biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and
composer Bill Evans.
1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the
perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature
death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate.
Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time
since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment
and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans
oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always
bubbling beneath the surface.
EVERYBODY DIGS BILL EVANS + Q&A (15)
Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026
Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a
biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and
composer Bill Evans.
1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the
perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature
death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate.
Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time
since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment
and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans
oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always
bubbling beneath the surface.
This screening is followed by post-show discussion with director Grant Gee and Hackney filmmaker and writer Gareth Evans.
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FRINGE! One Queer Day in Hackney + Maybe Moonbeam (18)
In September 2025, Hackney's queer community was invited to film a day in their lives, creating an intimate snapshot of queer people at work, at rest and in community. The resulting film is an ode to collaborative filmmaking. Made on a micro-budget by a proudly trans, non-binary, queer and neurodivergent team whose love, sweat and joy seeps into the film and makes themes of resilience, connection and belonging come to life.
Presented by Fringe! Queer Film & Art Fest. Screened with MAYBE MOONBEAM by dir. Lil Warren, 2024, United Kingdom, 20 min.
This event will feature an in-person discussion with filmmakers, Andrew Woodyat and Lil Warren.
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Fringe! and Pink Palace: JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS (PG)
Join Fringe! and Pink Palace for a 25th anniversary screening of Y2K camp classic Josie & The Pussycats. For all the punk rock Prom Queens and Backdoor Lovers, we hope you DuJour this criminally underrated early 2000’s film just as much as we do! Let’s get subliminal and slip back towards the millennium to hang out with wannabe rockstars Josie, Melody and Valerie as they try to make it big against the corporate rock machine and battle evil record label bosses Wyatt Frame and Fiona (Alan Cumming and Parker Posey).
Plus, preceding the feature will be Tuna Tartare, a wicked and trashy animated short by Lena Greene. I have 3 SMALL WORDS for you Book + Tickets + Now! (Join The Army).
Pink Palace is a super low fi highly relaxed weekly queer film club that takes place in the RIO basement bar, its a safe space so come along and catch some queer film and pop culture history, each week the film is introduced by curator Andrew Woodyatt, feel free to stay and chat afterwards, participation is encouraged!
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GANJA & HESS presented by ASHLEY CLARK & DIONNE EDWARDS (18)
Described by Spike Lee as ‘one of the most underappreciated filmmakers of his time’, African-American playwright turned actor-writer-director Bill Gunn’s radical 1973 vampire movie Ganja & Hess returns as part of our ongoing Rio Forever celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the cinema in its current form. The screening will be preceded by a contextualising introduction from author and curator Ashley Clark alongside British filmmaker and Rio patron Dionne Edwards.
Featuring Night of the Living Dead’s Duane Jones in his only other lead role, the film offers a witty, racially charged take on the vampire myth as a well-to-do Black anthropologist, busy researching an ancient African nation where blood-drinking was common practice, is stabbed with a ritual dagger and transformed into an immortal vampire himself.
Filmed on a miscroscopic budget and featuring an array of experimental film techniques including dream sequences, off-kilter camerawork and non-sequential editing, the film was overlooked for decades only to be rediscovered and championed by filmmakers and enthusiasts including Spike Lee, who would go on to remake the film in 2014 under the title Da Sweet Blood of Jesus.
We’re pleased to welcome Ashley Clark online from New York: the Curatorial Director at Criterion and the author of The World of Black Film: A Journey Through Cinematic Blackness in 100 Films (on sale at the Rio!), he’ll be discussing Gunn’s masterpiece with local filmmaker Dionne Edwards, who’ll host the screening in person.
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GOODBYE, DRAGON INN presented by Ben Whishaw (PG)
As part of our ongoing Rio Forever celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the cinema, we’re over the moon to welcome local resident, film enthusiast and one of the world’s finest living actors, Ben Whishaw, to introduce one of his own favourite films: Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang’s tender tribute to cinema spaces, GOODBYE, DRAGON INN (2003).
In a crumbling movie house in downtown Taipei, the last two staff members are hosting a screening of wuxia legend King Hu’s 1967 action classic Dragon Inn. In the near-deserted auditorium, a Japanese tourist attempts to pick up young men while a woman noisily eats sunflower seeds. Two stars of the original film witness its final performance, as around them the cinema gradually closes down.
Described by director Apichatpong Weerasethakul as ‘THE best film of the last 125 years’, GOODBYE, DRAGON INN is a masterpiece of slow cinema, a deceptively simple and cumulatively overwhelming film about nothing and everything. We can’t wait to have Ben Whishaw on hand to introduce a film he personally hand-picked for the Rio Forever season.
GOODBYE, DRAGON INN is shown in Mandarin and Southern Min, with English subtitles.
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Hong Kong Film Festival: DEADLINE
At
the hyper-competitive Enshan school, students are kept in line by
state-of-the-art AI surveillance technology and iSmart, a nationwide
tech initiative that tracks performance and attendance. In the days
before the elite school’s final exams, order descends into chaos when an
anonymous note predicts the suicide of an unnamed student.
Join us for the UK premiere of this latest film by acclaimed director Kiwi Chow – award-winning filmmaker of Ten Years and box office smash Beyond the Dream. Unavailable to watch in Hong Kong itself, Deadline is an Orwellian thriller about a near future where the connected worlds of AI technology, education, and authoritarian governments leave little space for freedom and humanity to flourish.
In collaboration with cinematographer Danny Szeto Yat-lui, Chow has made his most artistically ambitious work yet. Enshan’s hallways are transformed in Deadline’s dystopian, sci-fi world to offer a stark warning of how a system can corrupt even those with the best intentions.
Film distributed in the UK by DOVC.
Followed by an online Q&A with Kiwi Chow.
Join us for the UK premiere of this latest film by acclaimed director Kiwi Chow – award-winning filmmaker of Ten Years and box office smash Beyond the Dream. Unavailable to watch in Hong Kong itself, Deadline is an Orwellian thriller about a near future where the connected worlds of AI technology, education, and authoritarian governments leave little space for freedom and humanity to flourish.
In collaboration with cinematographer Danny Szeto Yat-lui, Chow has made his most artistically ambitious work yet. Enshan’s hallways are transformed in Deadline’s dystopian, sci-fi world to offer a stark warning of how a system can corrupt even those with the best intentions.
Film distributed in the UK by DOVC.
Followed by an online Q&A with Kiwi Chow.
Content warning: Themes of suicide and self-harm.
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Hong Kong Film Festival: MY NAME AIN'T SUZIE
In recent years, Angie Chen has been rightfully recognised as a much overlooked contributor to the innovative Hong Kong New Wave of the 1980s. Her second feature was conceived to disenchant the orientalist fairytale of bar hostesses in the Hollywood romance drama The World of Suzie Wong (1960), which cast Nancy Kwan as the exotic love interest of an Englishman. Rather than Suzie, the name of the heroine in Chen’s film is Shui Mei (Patricia Ha), who comes from an impoverished fishing family and begins working at the Lucky Bar in Wan Chai’s red-light district in the 60s.
Scripted
by John Chan (Nomad, My Heart Is That Eternal Rose), the film follows
Shui Mei through many bittersweet encounters against the shifting sands
of the industry and the city, including a love affair with Jimmy
(Anthony Wong Chau-sang, in his big-screen debut), a mixed-race young
man searching for his father among the sailors, and an endearing
partnership with the gangster Wong Ying (Deanie Ip).
Newly
restored in 2K, My Name Ain't Suzie is a refreshing breeze that rejects
sensational spectacle, offering instead a critical look at the gender
and colonial dynamics underpinning sex work in post-war Hong Kong, and,
ultimately, a story of women’s resilience.
This screening features a recorded introduction by Angie Chen.
MY NAME AIN'T SUZIE is shown in Cantonese, Mandarin and English, and is part-subtitled.
Presented in partnership with Queer East
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LEVITICUS (15)
Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most-each other.
Something rather nasty is unfolding in this conversion-therapy horror. If you asked the god-fearing residents of the isolated Australian town at its centre, they would say it’s the curse of homosexuality, quietly infecting the youth. If you asked the gay teens themselves, they would say it’s something far more horrifying.
In many increasingly overcrowded fields – trauma horror, curse horror, gay horror, Sundance horror – Leviticus stands tall.
LITTLE WHITE LIES PRESENTS A CELLULOID SURPRISE #2 (18)
RIO FOREVER: LITTLE WHITE LIES PRESENTS… A CELLULOID SURPRISE #2 ON 35MM
Wed 16 September 18:00
Presented
on a glorious 35mm film print and hand-picked by a member of the Little
White Lies editorial team, satisfaction is all but guaranteed. Celluloid
Suprise #1 was John Water's iconic SERIAL MOM, presented on a print
from the Cinema Museum.. This time round, the only clue we can give you
is that this title is often referenced as a source of inspiration for
Jane Schoenbrun...
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Let’s Go Emo! with LSFF (15)
Have you got a black eyeliner pencil sitting in your room? Are you intimately familiar with the process of removing days worth of Schwarzkopf Got2B Glued from your hair? Do you consider yourself Not Okay? Then come along to Let’s Go Emo!
A cross platform programme exploring how young people use digital media to express identity, creativity and community, Let’s Go Emo! combines early YouTube videos, contemporary TikToks and Reels, and British short films reflecting on youth culture with an early 00s focus.
The programme will also include a collaboratively produced zine featuring commissioned writing from young contemporary emo fans and content creators, alongside a badge-making workshop hosted by Badge Cafe.
13:30 - 15:00 Film programme
15:00 - 17:00 Badge making workshop by Badge Café
Co-curated by LSFF Artistic Director Philip Ilson and young programmer Molly Miles
Still: My Sweet Prince (Jason Bradbury, 2019)
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NEUROSPICY IV (+ Q&A with Dean Atta) (15)
Prepare to watch amazing brand new short films including award winning short film 'Two Black Boys In Paradise' and an exciting Q&A with BAFTA Winner and Acclaimed Poet Dean Atta. Get ready to be inspired, moved, and entertained by the unique perspectives showcased on screen. Don't miss out on this exciting gathering of innovative storytellers! This is a safe intersectional screening for neurodiverse creatives and allies to come together and to connect over a love of cinema.
Neurospicy IV is shown with English captions.
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Never Watching Movies & Claire Harrison: CAR WASH (PG)
Join Never Watching Movies and Claire Harrison (usually found at Category H film club) for an evening screening of CAR WASH (1976). Follow the daily life of Dee-Luxe Car Wash employees, a tight-knit team who make the most of their minimum wage job, meeting eccentric individuals passing through the wash. The film features the iconic Rose Royce song of the same name, infamously written on a (fried chicken) paper bag before going on to become one of the most iconic songs of the era.
Carwash features performances by Richard Pryor, The Pointer Sisters, Bill Duke, Garrett Morris...
This event will feature an introduction by Zain Gibson and Claire Harrison.
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Never Watching Movies: EMPIRE RECORDS (12A)
Ever wondered what it's like working in the UK's longest running cinema? Join Never
Watching Movies for a special Rio Forever screening of EMPIRE RECORDS (1995) +
Q&A!
Follow the story of Empire records, the coolest music store in town. After one of the
employees blows the store's cash, the team faces the threat of becoming a
conglomerate. The young adults running the store come together to try to figure out
how to keep their beloved independent music haven alive.
This event features a Q&A hosted by THE self-proclaimed Mayor of Stevenage (Tegan
Chinogurei) in conversation with Rio staff of past and present on their experiences
working at the iconic Dalston cinema - think celeb spottings, weird things found
under seats and how they got their jobs in the first place.
Alongside the screening a limited number of staff made zines will be on sale filled
with Rio history, juicy stories, and some of our favourite regulars and celebs,
available to buy on the night!
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Pink Palace & Contemporary Films: THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK (+ Q&A with Rob Epstein) (15)
Pink Palace and Contemporary Films present
THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK (+ Q&A with Rob Epstein)
dir. Rob Epstein | USA | 1984
THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK (+ Q&A with Rob Epstein)
dir. Rob Epstein | USA | 1984
Pink Palace joins forces with Contemporary Films to present this Oscar winning documentary, back on the big screen at the Rio.
In
1978, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco city council, one
year later, he and Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed by Milk s
fellow council member, former police officer Dan White. This powerful
documentary recreates the tumultuous story of Milk’s grass-roots
political organizing and election, through the shocking murders and
their repercussions from the eloquent candle-light memorial joined by
tens of thousands of San Franciscans on the evening of the
assassinations, to the angry mobs who stormed City Hall in the aftermath
of the lenient sentence White received at his murder trial.
Winner of the 1984 Academy Award for best documentary, this is the moving and ultimately life-affirming portrait of the first openly gay man elected to political office in California.
Director Rob Epstein will provide a short, pre-recorded introduction to the film. A panel discussion will follow the screening with Davina Cooper, Femi Otitoju and Chris Lehmann looking at the relationship between radical local government and community activism for LGBTQ+ equality in Britain – both then and now.
CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF CONTEMPORARY FILMS
Bringing bold cinema that inspired generations of British audiences and filmmakers — a festival of screening events with special guests across London this September and October
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Pink Palace: DESERT HEARTS (18)
Pink Palace brings you this often overlooked milestone in lesbian cinema. Ground breaking when it appeared in UK cinemas, lesbian director Donna Deitch’s uplifting romance was one of the first films to look at a non-dramatic, non-sensational happy positive romance.
The 1950’s set story follows literature professor Vivian as she awaits her divorce to be finalised in the desert heat of Reno, Nevada. Fate intervenes and she meets Cay, 10 years her junior, who’s fiery passion challenges Vivians prim respectability.
What makes this film all the more remarkable is that it was made and funded by the lesbian community after the studios turned it down, allowing the director to make a film without any pressure to tone it down.
“Although
it has become a cult classic due to its explicit lesbian sex, Desert
Hearts is a wonderfully well-made film with a host of appealing
attributes. Steeped in moody, classic country and western music, it
conveys romantic longing and confusion with bittersweet intensity. With
neither cynicism nor sentimentality, Desert Hearts charmingly asserts
the centrality of emotion, as well as its prankish surprises.”
Camille Paglia, Sight & Sound, October 2015
Pink Palace is a super low fi highly relaxed weekly queer film club that takes place in the Rio basement bar, its a safe space so come along and catch some queer film and pop culture history, each week the film is introduced by curator Andrew Woodyatt, feel free to stay and chat afterwards, participation is encouraged!
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Pink Palace: J.G.Ballard’s CRASH (18)
Ban this perverted filth! Was the headline when David Cronenberg adapted J.G. Ballard’s classic underground novel in 1996, and Westminster Council banned it from screening in central London, even though the film had been given an 18 cert from the BBFC.
This is deeply unsettling psychological cinema, the story follows a group of people who’s lives intersect as they find sexual arousal in car crashes and near-death experiences. A twisted tangled tale it explores non-traditional boundary-pushing sexual obsessions that blur into bisexual dynamics, voyeurism, exhibitionism and homoerotic encounters.
Ballard’s novel was equally controversial when it was published in 1973, quickly becoming an underground best seller, and gaining a cult following, and the source of inspiration for art, films and music (The Creatures “Miss the Girl” and the Normals “Warm Leatherette” – covered by Grace Jones ) only serve to deepen this erotisism… “A tear of petrol is in your eye, the hand brake penetrates your thigh… Quick lets make love before you die” Daniel Miller.
“Danger, sex and death become entwined as eroticism and technology join together in a disturbing, deadly union. Awarded the Special Jury Prize at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival for originality, daring and audacity, Crash remains a subversive and confrontational piece of cinema.” BFI
Does the film live up to the book – come and see!
Pink Palace is a super low fi highly relaxed weekly queer film club that takes place in the RIO basement bar, its a safe space so come along and catch some queer film and pop culture history, each week the film is introduced by curator Andrew Woodyatt, feel free to stay and chat afterwards, participation is encouraged!
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Pink Palace: THE WASP WOMAN (18)
Pink Palace in conjunction with Lobotomy Room (devoted to Bad Movies for Bad People), presents The Wasp Woman (tagline: “A beautiful woman by day – a lusting queen wasp by night!”). Directed by wildly influential and prolific high potentate of low-budget cinema Roger Corman.
It begins with that perennial science fiction archetype – the mad scientist. In his crimes-against-nature experiments, Dr Eric Zinthrop has extracted an enzyme from the queen wasp’s royal jelly to create a compound that seemingly possesses miraculous rejuvenating powers, has he discovered the fountain of youth?
He finds an enthusiastic supporter in middle-aged cosmetics firm executive Janice Starlin who quickly grasps that the magical formula could not only restore her beauty but earn her millions. And despite Zinthrop’s serum having never been tested on humans, Janice volunteers to be his guinea pig. What could go wrong?
Beauty is indeed pain … especially for anyone who crosses Janice Starlin’s path!
Join us to marvel at The Wasp Woman - The Substance of its era and an exemplar of 1950s b-movie lunacy at its most irresistible!
Plus an intro chat on this b movie subgenre and the various other mad scientist human/insect monsters that inhabited cinemas like the Rio (the The Classic) in the 1960's.
Pink Palace is a super low fi highly relaxed weekly queer film club that takes place in the RIO basement bar, its a safe space so come along and catch some queer film and pop culture history, feel free to stay and chat afterwards, participation is encouraged!
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Queer Horror Nights: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW with Shadow Cast (18)
The ultimate Halloween thrill ride, QUEER HORROR NIGHTS returns to the
Rio with our spectacular midnight sing-along screening of THE ROCKY
HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) featuring a live Shadow Cabaret Cast
performing in front of the film.
A “phenomenal night” of "pure chaotic queer joy”, our shadow cast of
kings, queens, and things from London's queer cabaret scene gives THE
ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW a pelvic thrust of riotous energy. Performers
from previous shows will appear alongside some new creatures of the
night, serving dynamic takes on the film’s iconic numbers and more heat
than you can possibly handle.
And you’re invited to par-tic-i-pate! Whether strutting your stuff in
our Costume Competition (prizes for freakiest looks!), singing and
dancing along, calling-back to the film, or just having a great time in
the darkness, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW is a “fun, freeing event”
that thrills and empowers with its gloriously queer anthem for all:
“Don’t Dream It, Be It”.
Price of admission includes a Par-tic-i-pation Party Bag.*
BRING YOUR FREAK:
QUEER HORROR NIGHTS is a ‘costume kink and fetish-friendly’ event that’s
strictly for adults 18+ only. Come dressed as your favourite ROCKY
HORROR character or rubber-up for the show (bottom line: cover your bits
so we don’t stain the seats). Regular clothes are fine too!
PRE-DRINKS:
Join us in the bar from 22:30+ for pre-drinks and a free souvenir photo.
SHOW TIMES:
23.30 – Costume Competition & Welcome (to all you virgins ;)
00:00 – THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) + Shadow Cabaret
01:40 – Finale & Survivors Photo
02:00 – Event Close
PARTY BAG PROTOCOL:
*Your Party Bag includes everything you need for a night of absolute
pleasure. Please do not bring additional props to throw. We will stop
the film if you disobey.
Follow @tokenhomo or visit tokenhomo.com for more #QueerHorrorNights.
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Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry? + Q&A
In this recent documentary Scottish film-maker Mark Forbes explores the reality of working-class exclusion from Britain's film industry through 16 interviews with actors, screenwriters and cinematographers including Maxine Peake, Vicky McClure, Paul Laverty (I, Daniel Blake) and Rachel Clark (Dune: Part I and F1: The Movie). Self-funded and shot over two years without a crew, Forbes' film is consistently thought provoking.
The programme will include a short (15-minute) film: What's on? Rethinking class in the television industry, researched by panellist Dave O'Brien.
Following the documentary, we will be joined for a post-screening discussion by director Mark Forbes, director/producer Denise Alder and University of Manchester professor Dave O'Brien. The discussion will be chaired by Ayvianna Snow, British Indie Horror Artist of the Year (2026) and leading Equity union activist.
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RETURN TO THE TATLER + VARIETY (18)
As part of our anniversary celebrations, we take a detour into the Rio’s saucy 1970’s years as the Dalston Tatler, one of London’s highest grossing porn cinema clubs with an uncensored grindhouse programme and a full burlesque striptease extravaganza stage show.
We delve into the lurid stories and legends of this era with a fully illustrated talk packed with scandalous details, and an overview of the Rio’s connections to the Soho porn industry in an age of permissive society, civil rights, female liberation and relaxed attitudes to censorship. The talk and presentation will be led by our own Pink Palace curator Andrew Woodyatt and will have special guests (TBC).
Then we take a deep dive into the day to day life of working in a porn cinema with a screening of Bette Gordon’s feminist cult classic VARIETY (1983). Christine an aspiring author takes a job selling tickets in a New York porn cinema, where she gradually becomes increasingly interested in the films, and then starts a relationship with a rich mysterious patron of the Variety and is drawn into a dangerous world of stalking and voyeurism.
“Variety comes out of the fact that the whole sexuality question is very big in New York at the moment. Women who have worked together politically for a long time are finding themselves split around issues of what you can show, what you can want sexually, what you can even think. Variety fits right into that split. It is a dividing film, with the project of forcing people to confront things. Some women come up to me afterwards and say thank you for dealing with those issues, while others won’t even talk about it. Even among my friends, there are those who rush up and those who hide. It is as though the film touches something deeply repressed… Variety is a curiosity piece. It is there to raise a lot of eyebrows.” Bette Gordon, interviewed by Sight & Sound (1984)
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Saturday Morning Picture Club: WALL•E (+ Craft Activities) (U)
Saturday Morning Picture Club presents
WALL•E (+ Craft Activities)
dir. Andrew Stanton | US | 2008
Join us from 10.15am for craft activities, before the film screening at 11am!
The Rio’s beloved and historic Saturday Morning Picture Club is back with WALL•E, Pixar’s imaginative and heartwarming tale of friendship, adventure and caring for our planet.
Before the screening, we will have arts and crafts activities in the lobby led by Sophie, who as well as being a member of the Rio team has worked with children as a teacher, party host and afterschool club leader for the past five years.
Hundreds of years in the future, WALL•E spends his days tidying an Earth buried beneath mountains of waste, faithfully carrying out his duties long after humanity has left. When a sleek robot named EVE arrives on a mysterious mission, WALL•E follows her on an extraordinary journey across the galaxy. Funny, inventive and surprisingly moving, this much-loved Pixar adventure is a celebration of friendship, hope and the possibility of building a better future.
The Picture Club is open to all the family, but the crafts will primarily be aimed at 4 to 10 years.
Suitable for children and families. No unaccompanied adults or children.
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TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA (15)
After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium.
Tibet Film Festival London: FAR FROM HOME + Q&A (12A)
A father’s fading memory and echoes of a free Tibet lie at the heart of this intimate family story. In 1959 the Dalai Lama escaped Chinese occupation to India, followed by thousands of Tibetans. Over six decades later, as TC Tethong—former deputy to His Holiness—begins to lose his memory, remarkable family archives resurface, bringing to life a hopeful love story between TC and Judy, a Canadian volunteer who chose to build a life alongside Tibetans.
TC and Judy Tethong’s shared commitment began with urgent humanitarian work, and grew into a life devoted to the political struggle for Tibet and preserving Tibetan identity. Featuring rare reflections from an aging Dalai Lama and never-before-seen film reels of a fledgling Tibetan settlement carved from the South Indian jungle, the film weaves one family's story with the history of the last generation to remember a free Tibet. As TC's memory fades, old photos and Judy's meticulously preserved letters reveal the quiet, often unseen ways history is carried forward—by those who safeguard the stories of everyday life. Unfolding in a delicate dance between past and present, loss and hope, FAR FROM HOME is an exploration of love, resilience, and the longing for a home out of reach. As one generation begins to disappear, can remembering itself become an act of resistance?
This UK Premiere screening of FAR FROM HOME will feature an introduction from Tibet Film Festival London, as well as a Q&A with special guests following the screening.
FAR FROM HOME is shown in English and Tibetan and will feature English subtitles throughout.
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Tim & Barry: Just Jam X Video Dubz (18)
Tim & Barry take over the Rio for a night of two halves.
Video Dubs digs through 25 years of archive, treating the videos a bit like records, with DJs mixing grime, uk funky, footwork - freestyles, Just Jam clips, No Miming, Beat This and more live on the cinema screen through a massive sound system.
Then Just Jam takes over, bringing its psychedelic, anything-can-happen energy into the cinema for live sets, DJs, MCs and special performances ft -
Skengdo X AM
Nori
Manga
Oblig
Tsunamy
Keiran dotwav
Vvsmygwen
Chez Lucina
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We Are Parable: A Masterclass in Black British Music Videos (18)
Join We Are Parable in collaboration with The Music is Black Festival from East Bank for a Masterclass in Black British Music Videos.
We’ll be showing some of the most iconic music videos of our time on the big screen, featuring two leading voices in the industry: Award winning director Mo Ali (who has worked with Skepta, Lethal Bizzle, Bashy and Chip) and Music Video rep Lee Fairweather (collaborator with Stormzy, Joy Crookes, Arlo Parks and PinkPantheress) who will be unpacking what goes into the creation of an iconic music video.
The conversation will be led by We Are Parable’s Aleah Scott followed by audience Q&A. Whether you’re an aspiring director, artist, producer, music fan or simply someone who loves the power of visual storytelling, this is an opportunity to hear directly from experts from the music industry on music videos that have helped shape Black British music culture.
This event includes a live in-person Q&A with Mo Ali and Lee Fairweather.
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YEAH YEAH YEAHS: HIDDEN IN PIECES + NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (12A)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs present a special evening of music and cinema, pairing Barnaby Clay’s HIDDEN IN PIECES — a dreamlike black-and-white visual companion to the band’s Hidden in Pieces: Live at the Royal Albert Hall record — with Charles Laughton’s haunting 1955 classic THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, personally selected by Karen O.
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, follows Rev. Harry Powell, played by an indelible Robert Mitchum, a religious fanatic and serial killer who targets women who use their sexuality to attract men. Serving time in prison for car theft, he meets condemned murderer Ben Harper, who confesses to hiding $10,000 in stolen loot. Released from jail, Powell is obsessed with finding the money, and he tracks down Harper's widow, Willa, and her two children, John and Pearl...
HIDDEN IN PIECES is a 22-minute visual companion-piece to the Yeah Yeah Yeah's live
record Hidden in Pieces: Live at the Royal Albert Hall. The black and white short film is
directed by award-winning filmmaker Barnaby Clay, who previously directed the Mick
Rock documentary Shot! and horror film The Seeding. “I wanted to create a film that not only captured the live performance but also felt close to
the spirit of what the band was going for with their shows; something delicate and
dream-like, like a precious memory, timeless, emotionally charged and shrouded in
mystery.” The special live session was recorded at the legendary Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles
at the end of the band’s recent 25th anniversary tour. Hidden in Pieces was produced by
Lana Kim and Jett Steiger, via production company Ways & Means and made in
collaboration with Dropbox.About the film, the band says, “Barney Clay has made a stunning film of the live
performance that takes you there in the moment with us in the most heavenly way."
Each ticket purchase comes with a limited edition poster for the film, must pick up in
person.
Pre-order Hidden in Pieces: Live at the Royal Albert Hall out on October 23rd, through this link.
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