Tears Down Walls Between Sex and Cinema

Review of the Immersive porn cinema experience at Klub Verboten, London

Bruce LaBruce’s UK premiere of The Visitor was a bold, unapologetic reimagining of what a film screening could be. Presented by A/POLITICAL and Klub Verboten, the event reawakened the spirit of historical porn theatres, where viewing wasn’t just a passive experience but something raw, immediate, and deeply participatory. Held at EartH in Hackney, the night was a heady mix of latex, leather, and radical ideas—a physical manifestation of the film’s themes of sexual and political liberation.

The Visitor, a retelling of Pasolini’s Teorema, flips the narrative on contemporary fears surrounding immigration, recasting the titular visitor as a refugee who transforms a repressed bourgeois family through a series of erotic encounters. But this wasn’t just a film premiere; it was an invitation to embody its message. Across three distinct spaces, attendees moved between watching, experiencing, and, for many, becoming part of the performance. In the main screening room, the audience was confronted with LaBruce’s signature blend of camp and hardcore provocations, including strobe-lit slogans like “Fuck for the many, not the few.” This wasn’t a passive viewing experience—every moment seemed to challenge the audience to reconcile pleasure with politics, complicity with rebellion. In the adjacent rooms, the night became more unfiltered. A “play area” echoed the film’s narrative, allowing participants to engage in sexual acts while others observed through live video feeds. Another space screened the most explicit moments from the film, inviting attendees to engage with its core ideas on a deeply visceral level.

Fuck for the many, not the few

Tears Down Walls Between Sex and Cinema / The Visitor

Artist: Bruce La Bruce / @brucelabruce
Art Organisation: A/Political / @apoliticalorg
Colour photographs: Zbigniew Kotkiewicz / @zbigniew.kotkiewicz
Black and white photographs: Heavy Consumption / @heavyconsumption
Klub Verboten / @klubverboten
Venue: EartH / @earthackney
Editor: Maria Abramenko / @mariabramenko
Assistant: Annalisa Fabbrucci / @annalisa_fabbrucci

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