A person in a tree costume is playing a flute in a green-and-blue setting.

© Salzgeber

Pink Narcissus

Film Restored
Talk
Film
Special
Fri 23.10.26, 22:00

Kinemathek – Hall

Late Night Special

‘Pink Narcissus’ celebrates the beauty of a single person: Bobby Kendall. This desirable narcissist transports us into obsessively erotic dream worlds, in which he styles himself variously as a bullfighter, a Roman slave, a male prostitute and a daring lover. Gay pop! For almost six and a half years, James Bidgood (1933–2022) worked on this cult classic in his apartment, which he had converted into a film studio – transforming these precarious filmmaking conditions into a display of creativity and perseverance. In 1999, the film was honored at the Museum of Modern Art as a masterpiece of ‘kitschy glitz’.

USA 1972, director: James Bidgood, 65 min, OV (EN)
Introduction: Björn Koll (Queere Kulturstiftung)
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Tickets € 10 / concessions € 5
When Fri 23.10.26, 22:00
Where
Available online from October
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Event details and guests

Film Info

D: James Bidgood
W: James Bidgood
E: Martin Jay Sadoff
A: Bobby Kendall, Donald L. Brooks, Charles Ludlam
P: La Folie des Hommes, Pink Pictures
Prod: James Bidgood
WP: 1971

Original format: 8mm + 16mm, color
Screening print: DCP (1920 × 1080), 65 min, Salzgeber

Restoration Information

This special event is part of a collaboration between the Deutsche Kinemathek and the Queere Kulturstiftung (Queer Cultural Foundation) who are establishing a Queer Cinema Archive in Berlin, drawing on collections held at the Kinemathek and the archives of the international film distributor, Salzgeber. The screening is of a DCP held in these archives.

Björn Koll

completed school and obligatory military service and then moved to West Berlin in 1988 to study theatre, business administration and psychology. He made short films, undertook internships at the Theater des Westens and the Deutsche Oper, worked as a concert promoter and began collaborating with Manfred Salzgeber. From 1990 to 2023, Koll was head of the Salzgeber film distribution company and released over 600 films. The breadth of the Salzgeber portfolio is diverse, ranging from queer film to documentary, from emerging talent to international cinema. Koll is currently working on art and book projects and, as a board member of the Queere Kulturstiftung (Queer Cultural Foundation), is particularly committed to building a queer film archive in Berlin. Koll is also the organizer of the nationwide Queer Film Festival in Germany and editor of ‘sissy’, a culture magazine focusing on non-heteronormative perspectives.

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About Film Restored

In 2026, the Deutsche Kinemathek’s film heritage festival explores risk in cinema. We are examining the perils facing film producers and distributors; looking at the challenges encountered in archives and during restoration work; and showing films about characters who have everything at stake. These are layers of risk that often overlap and are mutually reinforcing.

→ More about the festival

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