Based on Oscar Wilde’s play, the films tells the story of how Salomé agrees to dance for King Herod in return for the head of John the Baptist.

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 design. – TORONTO SILENT FILM FESTIVAL

“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

“This adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play boasts a healthy streak of vulgarity of which Wilde, one suspects, would have secretly approved.”– Time Out

Featuring live accompaniment by Tania Gill. 

Co-presented by Queer Cinema Club. 

This screening is part of Flesh & The Devil: a film series exploring the scandalous, controversial, erotic and exotic films of the 1920s. Presented by Toronto Silent Film Festival.

Doors Open 30 Minutes Before Showtime.