23 March 2026 – The Rio Cinema announces a special programme of events, marking 50 years of community cinema, which will launch with a party curated by contemporary artist Jeremy Deller and cultural troublemakers Sportsbanger on 17 April 2026. Tickets will go on sale for the first set of events on Monday 23 March via the Rio website.

Hackney’s Rio Cinema is proud to be the UK’s longest-running cinema – a place where films have been screened, shared and loved since 1909. 2026 marks 50 years of being run by and for its community, and this major milestone is to be celebrated with a 6 month-long programme: RIO FOREVER.

Running from April 2026, RIO FOREVER honours the Rio as a living part of Hackney’s cultural and social history, with a unique programme that will showcase what the Rio does best: bold, eclectic programming; archival gems; and gatherings that bring people together. Throughout the year, filmmakers, artists and cultural agitators will dive into its archive of 50 years of cinema programming and choose a title to reintroduce to the public.

Each headline screening will act as a fundraiser to help maintain its beautiful, historic building and ensure The Rio remains an inclusive,vibrant, community-run space for generations to come.

The programme starts with an homage to Clara Ludski (c.1862–1933), revealing a new plaque for this visionary businesswoman and pioneer of early British cinema. Born to Jewish Prussian immigrants, Clara turned her family’s auctioneer shop on Kingsland High Street into one of London’s first full-time cinemas, opening the Kingsland Palace – now the Rio – in 1909. The Rio’s plaque for Clara is part of The Hackney Society’s Women of Hackney project.

The opening night centres around a unique party curated in collaboration with Jeremy Deller, Sports Banger and Doc’n Roll Films, three forces whose work shares a deep affinity with the Rio’s core values: community, DIY creativity and a lust for both grassroots subculture and counterculture. Together with the Rio’s team, they will transform the space for a one-off celebration of radical creativity, outsider art, music and film under one roof.  The night reflects their shared commitment to DIY culture, subcultural storytelling and the local communities that shape contemporary art and music.

A diverse and eclectic programme of events follows, including an ongoing series of special screening events dedicated to 35MM film. Led by a host of celebrated filmmakers, each will select a film to introduce and discuss on the night, including Sally Potter & So Mayer presenting Potter’s trailblazing Virginia Woolf biopic, Orlando, starring Tilda Swinton;  Oscar-winning film director and homegrown Hackney hero Asif Kapadia, who will  introduce a rare 35mm print of one of his favourite movies: Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part Two; and writer-director Dionne Edwards on Wachowskis’ boundary-pushing neo-noir thriller, Bound, with more to be announced. A Celluloid Surprise, a regular series of mystery films handpicked by the team at Little White Lies film magazine, will each also be presented on a glorious 35mm film print.

Further highlights include British cinematographer turned writer-director Molly Manning-Walker (How to Have Sex) with a presentation of recent multi-Oscar-winner Paul Thomas Anderson’s early romantic comedy, Punch-Drunk Love; a celebration of the life and legacy of Prince with this special opportunity to catch his star-making Purple Rain on the big screen: Expect an introduction, prizes, and your favourite host – the self-proclaimed Mayor of Stevenage TEGAN – with dressing in purple or your best Prince-inspired fit fully encouraged. Meanwhile horror film club Category H invite you to watch Haunted Indiana and Attack Of The 50ft Woman as they honour all things hazy, low budget and strange; and Varda Film Club presents French filmmaker Agnes Varda’s vivid, joyful and gloriously enthusiastic exploration of LA’s mural culture, Mur Murs.

Documentaries, flights of fancy and realism come together in Uncommon Voices with Tomisin Adejepu, which explores class in New British Cinema; whilst actors dress up as animals in the inventive Taiwanese 1961 curiosity The Fantasy of Deer Warrior, presented by Queer East; and one of the most vital and entertaining queer films of the century so far, writer-director-actor Desiree Akhavan’s 2014 debut Appropriate Behaviour, also screens, with Akhavan live at the Rio to discuss the film in person with Corinna Antrobus.

Courtesy of BUILDHOLLYWOOD, a billboard designed by Jeremy Deller and Sportsbanger to celebrate RIO FOREVER will be presented on five local billboards, from Monday 13 April for 2 weeks, and there will be other sightings around Hackney over the next few months.

A RIO FOREVER trailer, directed by Ben Ridolfi and made by Hackney-based production company Park District, will be available to watch and share HERE.

Further RIO FOREVER special events and screenings to be announced soon!