Silent Films are Gay!: Salomé + Lot in Sodom

Films are Gay! presents the first chapter of its newest film volume; Silent Films are Gay! a season of queer films across the silent era. Our first screening will be a Biblically Queer double bill of Lot in Sodom (1933, dirs. James Sibley Watson, Melville Webber, 26 mins) and Salomé (1922, dirs. Alla Nazimova, Charles Bryant, 74 mins), each film including a brief intro from film curator Erik Anderson Scott.

Lot in Sodom – The avant-garde homoerotic dreamscape from experimental film duo Watson and Webber, this short reimagines the Biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, reclaiming the narrative's queerness with visually captivating and overtly gay performance – a feast for the eyes from the underground of early American cinema.

Salomé – A hyper-stylised adaptation of Oscar Wilde's final play, Salomé tells the violent tragedy of King Herod's stepdaughter. Enraged by her unrequited love for imprisoned prophet John the Baptist, Salomé seduces her stepfather to deliver John's head on a silver platter. With gorgeously Art Nouveau production design inspired by Aubrey Beardsley, the entire cast was reportedly queer, a rule set by the film's star and co-director, the mother of Sapphic Cinema herself, Alla Nazimova. 

Doors will open at 19:00, programme will begin at 19:30.

Trigger Warnings: 

Lot in Sodom: Violence, Death, Nudity, Depictions of Sexual Assault

Salomé: Violence, Suicide, Death

This is an +18 screening, as both films are not rated.