Pink Palace: Adam + intro
Now Playing
Pink Palace presents this under-the-radar queer trans coming-of-age comedy from 2019, as Adam and those around him experience love, friendship and hard truths, with an intro by Oona who self-describes as Writer, Artist? Content creator with a creative practice centred around cakes, holidays and older men. A historical researcher specialising in late-20th-century trans social history and procrastin...
Pink Palace: It Came From Kuchar
Showing from Thu 23 Apr
Pink Palace presents a loving tribute and analysis of the multifaceted careers of underground filmmaking legends George and Mark Kuchar (SINS OF THE FLESHOPOIDS, HOLD ME WHILE I'M NAKED). Exploring their vast bodies of work and assessing their legacies, the brothers and their collaborators give an invaluable portrait of low-budget ingenuity and unflappable creativity. “Long before YouTube, there ...
Ego Death: An LSD Dream Emulator Rave
Showing from Sat 25 Apr
To Top off our LSD Season offering, we invite you join us for a rave inspired by the cult classic game LSD: Dream Emulator, from which we get our name. This will be a party powered by the Dream Emulator Soundsystem, with visuals from LSD: Dream Emulator (1998), and some of the myriad experiences it inspired which you’ll have seen throughout the rest of LSD Season. Such an original game experience...
Queer Horror Nights: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW with Shadow Cast
Showing from Sat 2 May
Queer Horror Nights: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) with Shadow Cabaret at Rio Cinema (Saturday 02 May 2026 23:30pm to 02:00am) Described by our audience as a ?phenomenal night? of "pure chaotic queer joy", THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) returns to the Rio with a live Shadow Cabaret Cast of drag kings, queens, and things from across London's queer cabaret scene. THE ROCKY HORROR PICT...
TALENTED U: HONEYMOON + Q&A
Showing from Wed 6 May
A small town near Kyiv. Taras and Olya spend their first night in their new apartment after a party with friends. At dawn, their lives change irrevocably. They don’t have time to leave on time, and squatters have already appeared under the house. The couple finds themselves trapped in their own apartment without electricity, water, or communication. Over the course of five days, everything superfl...
QUEER EAST: FLOWER GIRL
Showing from Sat 16 May
Ena is a vapid sanitary towel endorser who calls her vagina ‘poochy’ and mindlessly enjoys a wannabe celebrity lifestyle. Self-obsessed and casually transphobic, her attentions are focused on having good times with her equally superficial boyfriend. But after an acrimonious encounter with a mysterious fairy in a public toilet, Ena wakes up to find that her ‘poochy’ has completely vanished. To recl...
Never Watching Movies: BURNING AN ILLUSION
Showing from Sun 17 May
NEVER WATCHING MOVIES presents a screening of Burning an Illusion (1982 Menelik Shabazz), with Juliana Kasumu’s 2025 Short Film “Threads of Memory” with an introduction from Juliana Kasumu on her short film Threads of Memory. BURNING AN ILLUSION Menelik Shabazz’s pioneering first feature, shot around the communities of Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove, marked a coming of age for black British cine...
QUEER EAST: WATER EMOJI X5 SHORTS PROGRAMME
Showing from Wed 20 May
In these well-lubricated short films, water (or lack thereof) becomes a slippery conduit for queer intimacies, from stolen glances between laundry cycles to sweaty embraces amid a deadly drought. Across oceans, bathtubs, and bottles of mysterious yellow liquid, bodies of water big and small ignite fantasy and fear alike. Staying afloat in rough seas is no easy feat, but having a crush might just m...
Doc'n Roll x Rio: PARADISE UK Premiere + Q&A
Showing from Thu 28 May
Doc?n Roll presents the UK Premiere of PARADISE (PARA?SO), followed by a Q&A with director Daniel Mota and producers Jo?o Ervedosa and Maria Guedes. This exhilarating documentary dives into Portugal?s early 90s dance music explosion, with raves of epic proportions and a new sound which was then referred to as ?underground house music from a paradise called Portugal?. Deftly knitted together by ...
Dear Mr Manley + Q&A
Showing from Sat 30 May
“Dear Mr Manley…” These words begin the hundreds of letters sent from the trenches of the First World War to Ralph Manley, the dedicated secretary of Stoke Newington’s Mildmay Club, then known as the Mildmay Radical Club & Institute. Discovered several years ago in the Club’s building, the letters were written by soldiers thanking Manley for the care parcels of cigarettes and chocolate he sent th...
Hackney History Festival presents: EXPLODERS
Showing from Sun 31 May
A Rio Dalston Premiere Hackney History Festival presents EXPLODERS The story of the Exploding Galaxy 1967 - 1969 A film by Jill Drower Witness the moment when these flower child performance artists first hit Dalston Based on the book, The Exploding Galaxy: Performance Art, LSD and Bent Coppers in the Sixties Counterculture Who were the Exploding Galaxy? Were they.......
Women from Hackney's History Premiere + Panel
Showing from Sun 31 May
A moving new film commissioned by the Hackney Society to bring to life eleven women from Hackney's past whose stories are featured in our Women from Hackney’s History, books 1 and 2. Hackney-based filmmaker Barney Snow, worked with Nina Sprigge, the Tower Theatre and editor Sue Doe and filmed in many Hackney locations. Premiering on International Women’s Day, the film spans nearly three centuries,...
Wesley Gonzalez, Dana Gavanski & Clementine March at RIO CINEMA
Showing from Sun 7 Jun
Velcro Flats present a DAYTIME SHOW (1.30pm-5pm) at Dalston's beautiful Rio Cinema Wesley Gonzalez, Dana Gavanski & Clementine March DAYTIME SHOW 1.30pm - 5pm 1.30pm - Doors 2.15pm - 2.45pm - Clementine March 3.00pm - 3.30pm Dana Gavinski 3.45pm- 4.30pm Wesley Gonzalez? 5 pm - Close Wesley Gonzalez launches his new single 'Red Pilled and Based' at Dalston's Rio Cinema with a daytime performance ...
RIO STAFF SELECTS MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE: LIFE ON THE MURDER SCENE
Showing from Thu 2 Jul
RIO STAFF SELECTS MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE: LIFE ON THE MURDER SCENE (2006) As pioneers of emo rock and youth subculture My Chemical Romance embark on a worldwide tour, come and celebrate the return of 2006 at the Rio Cinema with a screening of the documentary MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE: LIFE ON THE MURDER SCENE. Screening Thursday 2nd July, 8:15, in the Rio’s screen one, this is a very rare opportunity to s...
Classic Matinee: HARD TRUTHS
Showing from Mon 18 May
For our May Classic Matinee, we present HARD TRUTHS, the most recent contemporary drama from legendary British filmmaker Mike Leigh, a fierce, compassionate and darkly humorous study of family life. Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivers a towering performance as Pansy, a woman consumed by anxiety, anger and physical pain, lashing out at her husband, her withdrawn son and strangers alike. In contrast ...
Classic Matinee: JAWS
Showing from Mon 15 Jun
For our June Classic Matinee, we dive into blockbuster history with JAWS, Steven Spielberg?s era-defining thriller that forever changed the summer movie season. When a shark attack rocks the seaside town of Amity Island, police chief Martin Brody wants to close the beaches, but local officials fear the loss of tourist income. Teaming up with marine biologist Matt Hooper and grizzled fisherman Q...
Classic Matinee: THE FULL MONTY
Showing from Mon 13 Jul
For our July Classic Matinee, we?re heading to Sheffield with THE FULL MONTY, the beloved British comedy that strips away pride, prejudice and plenty of inhibitions. After losing his job at the local steelworks, Gaz is desperate to raise money and prove himself to his young son. Inspired by the success of a touring male dance troupe, he recruits a group of fellow unemployed men to form their ow...
Carers & Babies: THE DRAMA
Showing from Mon 20 Apr
A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails... "The cringe-inducing observations about human behaviour when confronted with uncomfortable truths make for a skin-crawlingly fun time" Hannah Strong, Little White Lies.
FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER
Now Playing
Winner of the Golden Lion Best Film prize at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER is the eagerly-awaited new film from Jim Jarmusch. Funny, tender and astutely observed, this is an intimate exploration of the universal intricacies of family dynamics. Starring Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat. ...
Pink Palace: Adam + intro
Now Playing
Pink Palace presents this under-the-radar queer trans coming-of-age comedy from 2019, as Adam and those around him experience love, friendship and hard truths, with an intro by Oona who self-describes as Writer, Artist? Content creator with a creative practice centred around cakes, holidays and older men. A historical researcher specialising in late-20th-century trans social history and procrastin...
Pink Palace: It Came From Kuchar
Showing from Thu 23 Apr
Pink Palace presents a loving tribute and analysis of the multifaceted careers of underground filmmaking legends George and Mark Kuchar (SINS OF THE FLESHOPOIDS, HOLD ME WHILE I'M NAKED). Exploring their vast bodies of work and assessing their legacies, the brothers and their collaborators give an invaluable portrait of low-budget ingenuity and unflappable creativity. “Long before YouTube, there ...
PINK PALACE: DRESSED TO KILL
Showing from Thu 30 Apr
Pink Palace presents a challenging ground breaking sex thriller, a pre-AIDS era warning to those contemplating sexual promiscuity and gender norm deviation. After sexually frustrated housewife Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) has a session with her psychiatrist Dr Elliott (Michael Caine), she silently seduces a man in an art gallery, an assignation that ends in murder and the only witness, high-clas...
Saturday Morning Picture Club: Chicken Run
Showing from Sat 25 Apr
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. This month we?re showing the cracking claymation classic: CHICKEN RUN, a feather-ruffling adventure where a flock of determined hens plot their great escape! Before the screening, we will have arts and crafts activities in the lobby led by Sophie...
FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER
Now Playing
Winner of the Golden Lion Best Film prize at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER is the eagerly-awaited new film from Jim Jarmusch. Funny, tender and astutely observed, this is an intimate exploration of the universal intricacies of family dynamics. Starring Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat. ...
Project Hail Mary
Now Playing
Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction? but an unexpected ...
THE DRAMA
Now Playing
A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails... "The cringe-inducing observations about human behaviour when confronted with uncomfortable truths make for a skin-crawlingly fun time" Hannah Strong, Little White Lies.
California Schemin'
Showing from Fri 17 Apr
Based on the improbably true story, CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’ follows two aspiring Scottish MCs who devise an audacious scheme to achieve their dream of a record deal, by posing as Californian hip hop artists. As fame beckons and the lies pile up, their friendship is put to the test.
DEPARTURES
Showing from Fri 17 Apr
When Benji encounters Jake at an airport gate, there is instant chemistry. Their relationship unfolds through monthly secret trips to Amsterdam. A must-see British comedy-drama that dissects a toxic relationship with humour and raw emotion. Inspired by real heartbreak. What begins as thrilling monthly getaways to Amsterdam soon unravels into a doomed relationship of convenience. Struggling to move...
Carers & Babies: THE DRAMA
Showing from Mon 20 Apr
A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails... "The cringe-inducing observations about human behaviour when confronted with uncomfortable truths make for a skin-crawlingly fun time" Hannah Strong, Little White Lies.
Nothing Scheduled
DOC'N ROLL: SPORTS BANGER X JEREMY DELLER
Showing from Sat 18 Apr
Rio Forever: Opening Night launches the Rio Cinema’s 50th anniversary celebratory season of events with a special night combining film, music and Hackney’s creative spirit. At the heart of the programme is a community selection of films chosen by the Rio’s team, the people whose passion, knowledge and dedication have kept the cinema thriving for decades. Their picks reflect the eclectic tastes and...
RIO FOREVER: PURPLE RAIN
Showing from Tue 21 Apr
NEVER WATCHING MOVIES x Kulraj Phullar present PRINCE: A PURPLE CELEBRATION Dearly Beloved, Never Watching Movies and Kulraj Phullar invite you to celebrate the life and legacy of Prince (June 1958- April 2016) with this special opportunity to catch his star-making PURPLE RAIN (1984) on the big screen! Follow The Kids (Prince) struggles with an unhappy home life, band tensions, burgeoning romance...
RIO FOREVER: ORLANDO ON 35MM WITH SALLY POTTER AND SO MAYER
Showing from Fri 24 Apr
Adapted from Virginia Woolf's inspired 1928 satire Orlando: A Biography, screenwriter-director Sally Potter's trailblazing fictional biopic stars Tilda Swinton in the role she was born to play: an Elizabethan poet and nobleman who, over a centuries-long existence, encounters important historical figures, inexplicably switches genders and ends up giving birth to a daughter. A triumph of dogged per...
RIO FOREVER / NEVER EVER WITH CATEGORY H: An Evening of Public Access
Showing from Fri 24 Apr
HAUNTED INDIANA + ATTACK OF THE 50FT WOMAN The opening night of late night horror film club Category H’s Rio Forever season, Rio Forever/Rio Never Ever invites you to celebrate the Rio turning 50 at our evening of public access, HAUNTED INDIANA X ATTACK OF THE 50FT WOMAN. Honouring all things hazy, low budget and strange, we take this as an evening to celebrate cinema, and images which lie beyon...
RIO FOREVER: VARDA FILM CLUB X LA CINEMAÍZ PRESENT: MURS MURS
Showing from Sat 25 Apr
VARDA FILM CLUB X LA CINEMAÍZ PRESENT: MURS MURS Mur Murs Often dubbed "the mural capital of the world", since the 1930s Los Angeles, California has been home to literally thousands of outsized outdoor artworks, from publicly funded projects and graffitied depictions of popular sporting figures to world-famous examples of the so-called Chicano Art Movement: massive, colourful independent artworks...
Kino Polonia - Three Colours: White
Showing from Tue 28 Apr
We are excited to introduce Kino Polonia, our new Polish film club at your local cinema, the Rio. Our aim is to showcase the rich history of Polish film making, from cult classics to bold and compelling contemporary works. Opening with Three Colours White, Krzysztof Kieslowski's darkly comic portrait of Karol, a Polish hairdresser abandoned in Paris who returns to Warsaw to rebuild his life. A sto...
RIO FOREVER: DAILIES X ICO: UNCOMMON VOICES with TOMISIN ADEPEJU
Showing from Wed 29 Apr
RIO FOREVER: DAILIES X ICO: UNCOMMON VOICES with TOMISIN ADEPEJU Exploring class in New British Cinema We’ve all got an image that pops into our head when we think about what a ‘working class film’ might look like, and for most of us, it’s a vision firmly drawn from the past. This selection of recent short films starts a conversation about how working class filmmakers are capturing working class e...
RIO FOREVER: LWL PRESENT A CELLULOID SURPRISE #1
Showing from Thu 7 May
RIO FOREVER: LITTLE WHITE LIES PRESENT… A CELLULOID SURPRISE #1 ON 35MM Come down and celebrate the Rio Forever season by coming to see a mystery film screening – the only thing that we can guarantee to you at this point is that it will be presented on a glorious 35mm film print. Actually, we can guarantee more than that, as the film has been hand-picked by a member of the Little White Lies editor...
RIO FOREVER x ASIF KAPADIA: THE GODFATHER: PART II (35MM)
Showing from Fri 8 May
RIO FOREVER: ASIF KAPADIA PRESENTS: THE GODFATHER: PART TWO, ON 35MM As part of our ongoing Rio Forever celebrations, we're delighted to welcome Oscar-winning film director and homegrown Hackney hero Asif Kapadia to introduce a rare 35mm print of one of his favourite movies: the greatest sequel ever told, the saddest gangster movie of all time and arguably the finest work by one of the all-time m...
RIO FOREVER X QUEER EAST: FANTASY OF DEER WARRIOR
Showing from Wed 13 May
RIO FOREVER: QUEER EAST PRESENTS: THE FANTASY OF DEER WARRIOR Actors dress up as animals in this inventive Taiwanese curiosity from 1961, in which the happy lives of the forest animals are shaken when a pack of wolves suddenly attacks. Amidst this threat, the Sika Deer is busy fighting with the Elk for the love of the demure Miss Deer, which arouses the jealousy of the manipulative Foxy. Apparentl...
Rio Forever / Never Ever: Ladies Night
Showing from Fri 15 May
THE STEPFORD WIVES X TEETH The second screening of Category H horror film club’s Rio Forever/Rio Never Ever season is Ladies Night, a double bill of THE STEPFORD WIVES X TEETH. Dedicated to women in horror taking charge of the narrative and fighting back against the corrupt men who surround them, we present two controversial feminist horror films. Join us this 15th May, 23:30, for a night of misa...
RIO FOREVER: PUNCH DRUNK LOVE
Showing from Tue 19 May
RIO FOREVER: MOLLY MANNING WALKER PRESENTS: PUNCH DRUNK LOVE British cinematographer turned writer-director Molly Manning-Walker’s deeply felt feature debut How to Have Sex is one of our favourite films of the decade so far. Now she’s coming to the Rio to discuss one of her own favourite films: One Battle After Another director Paul Thomas Anderson’s giddy, intense and utterly singular romantic c...
DIONNE EDWARDS: BOUND on 35mm
Showing from Fri 22 May
RIO FOREVER: DIONNE EDWARDS PRESENTS BOUND ON 35MM With its scorching soundtrack and astounding performances - particularly from X-Factor star Alexandra Burke - writer-director Dionne Edwards’s Pretty Red Dress is one of the most confident and impressive British feature debuts of the decade so far. As part of our ongoing Rio Forever celebrations, we’re thrilled to invite Dionne to introduce a 35mm...
RIO FOREVER: APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR
Showing from Fri 29 May
RIO FOREVER: APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR WITH DESIREE AKHAVAN AND CORRINA ANTROBUS One of the most vital and entertaining queer films of the century so far, writer-director-actor Desiree Akhavan’s 2014 debut Appropriate Behaviour screens as part of our ongoing Rio Forever celebrations - and we’re thrilled to welcome Akhavan to the Rio to discuss the film in person. Inspired by events from her own life...
RIO FOREVER / NEVER EVER: GEMINI SEASON
Showing from Fri 12 Jun
SISTERS X ALMOST DEAD Brothers sisters and siblings alike, twins or not come along and celebrate GEMINI SEASON, a late night double bill of SISTERS X ALMOST DEAD. Presented by horror film club Category H as part of their season Rio Forever/Never Ever, this screening takes place Friday the 12th of June, 23:30-late. First up Brian DePalma's iconic SISTERS (1972). After a reporter witnesses a murd...
RIO FOREVER / NEVER EVER: BLOOD AND BONES
Showing from Fri 17 Jul
BLOOD X BONES As part of Category H’s late night season Rio Forever/Rio Never Ever, you are invited to an evening of BLOOD and BONES. On Friday the 17th of July at 23:30, see two films which explore the house as a place of horror. Where strange inhabitants commit unspeakable deeds or where past inhabitants can’t quite seem to put their bad habits to rest, even from beyond the grave. BLOOD (1973)...
