Black and white close-up of a person with long hair partially covered by a dark hood, dimly lit by a candle flame.

UK Premiere: Queen Kelly

Name: UK Premiere: Queen Kelly
Start: 2026-07-25T14:05
End: 2026-07-25T16:00
Location: Watershed

18 (CTBA)

part of Restored & Rediscovered

Film

Sat 25 July 14:05

Director: Erich von Stroheim
Cast: Gloria Swanson, Seena Owen, Walter Byron, Wilhelm von Brincken
Details: 105 mins, 1929, USA
Primary language: English

Priority booking opens on Wed 27 May at 12:00 for Cinema Rediscovered passholders and Club Shed members.

General sale opens on Mon 1 June at 10:00.

Additional booking info below

“In the long history of Hollywood excess, there is no tale as torrid as that of Queen Kelly… an outlandish saga of illicit love in sordid surroundings…This new restoration may just be everything that [Gloria] Swanson dreamed of for her lovechild Queen Kelly." - Pamela Hutchinson, The Guardian

It should have been a dream collaboration: a glamorous world-famous movie star (Gloria Swanson) and her financier lover (Joseph P. Kennedy) hire a celebrated director (Erich von Stroheim) to make a groundbreaking independent film. Instead, the making of the film was rife with controversy and became the most infamous unfinished film in cinema history.

Set in an imaginary European country, von Stroheim tells the story of a prince, the orphan girl he falls in love with, and a vain and cruel queen whose jealousy wreaks havoc on everyone involved. Swanson plays the orphan girl whose life is turned upside down when the prince (Walter Byron) becomes obsessed with her, angering his betrothed queen.

Basing his reconstruction on von Stroheim’s original scripts, Milestone Films’ Dennis Doros and Amy Heller employed multiple techniques to recreate the film’s lurid dénouement. This vital new digital reconstruction, overseen by Milestone Films’ Dennis Doros and Amy Heller, brings von Stroheim’s original script to life, and the result is Queen Kelly in its most complete and spectacular form to date.

Presented in collaboration with South West Silents as part of Other Ways of Seeing, supported by BFI awarding funds from National Lottery.

Reconstruction: Dennis Doros and Amy Heller, Milestone Film & Video, Harrington Park, NJ. Nitrate materials and stills courtesy of The George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York. 4K digital stabilization, timing and cleanup by Metropolis Post, NYC. Colourist: Jason Crump. Digital restoration artist: Ian Bostick. Supervised by Milestone Films.

With an introduction by criticm film historian author of The Curse of Queen Kell. Pamela Hutchinson.

Special offers:
Booking for more than 10 events/screenings?
Buy a Cinema Rediscovered Festival Pass (£130 full / £100 concessions / £80 24 and under) and select your tickets for as many of the 60+ screenings and events during the festival as you want.
Booking for between 4 to 10 events/screenings?
Multi-Ticket Package Offer: get 15% off the regular ticket price when you book 4-10 Cinema Rediscovered screenings and/or events. The discount will automatically apply when you add the tickets to your basket.
Club Shed members get 15% off all individual Cinema Rediscovered tickets.

Priority booking opens on Wed 27 May at 12:00 for Cinema Rediscovered passholders and Club Shed members.

General sale opens on Mon 1 June at 10:00.

Event types:

Intro: Introductory Talk

Sat 25 July

Join Club Shed for £20 and save 15% on tickets. Plus, get advance booking, discounts on food and more. Get membership and start saving today

Pricing

Ticket price:

£12.00 full (plus 12% booking fee*)

£9.50 concessions / Refugees and Asylum Seekers (plus 12% booking fee*)

£6.50 24 or under (plus 12% booking fee*)

Concessions apply to Full Time Students, Job Seekers Allowance and Employment Support Allowance, 66+ who have retired, Equity and BECTU members and disabled people. Where applicable please produce proof of eligibility when collecting a ticket.

*Booking fee applies to online and phone booking only.

Complimentary tickets are available for Personal Assistants accompanying customers who are Deaf / Disabled and can be booked through the Box Office, or online after joining our Access Register.

Cinema Rediscovered Festival Pass

The Cinema Rediscovered Pass allows you to select from 60+ Cinema Rediscovered screenings and events between Wed 22 - Sun 26 July. Subject to availability, terms and conditions apply. Buy your Pass here. Pass holders get 25% off monthly or annual subscriptions to streaming platform Cinelogue.

Pass prices: £130 full / £100 concessions / £80 24 and under.

Multi-Ticket Package Offer

Get 15% off the regular ticket price when you book 4-10 Cinema Rediscovered screenings and/or events. The discount will automatically apply when you add the tickets to your basket.

Club Shed members get 15% off all individual Cinema Rediscovered tickets.

All Cinema Rediscovered Pass and ticket holders can get 20% off any 6 O'Clock Gin & Tonic (including Watershed’s very own) at the Café & Bar and Undershed Bar during the Festival. Pass and ticket holders can also enjoy 20% off Wiper and True draught products after 20:00 at the Café & Bar and Undershed Bar during the Festival.

Please note: the Cinema Walks, Projection Tours, Improv Workshops, Shadow Puppet Making Workshop and the Film Quiz are excluded from the Pass and Package.

Access

Cinema seat widths

Our cinema seats are 46cm wide, with wooden armrests on either side of each seat that can’t be moved.

We can provide seats without armrests or bean bags as alternatives at the front of the cinema if that is more comfortable for you. Please just call our Box Office on (0117) 927 5100 or book in-person to arrange.

Access Register

Join our Access Register to help us deliver the best possible experience for you. You can sign up to our Access Register online, or in person at Box Office or by calling (0117) 927 5100.

Further info

Our building is accessible, our staff are trained in basic BSL and Deaf awareness, we have toilets for everyone and we run an accessible programme of screenings, events and exhibitions. Find out more on our Access page.

Concessions

Concessions apply to Full Time Students, Job Seekers Allowance and Employment Support Allowance, 66+ who have retired, Equity and BECTU members and disabled people.

Where applicable please produce proof of eligibility when collecting a ticket or showing your ticket at the entrance to the cinema.