Pink Palace: The Einstein of Sex

Pink Palace's queer film club screens Rosa von Praunheim's 1999 biopic of sexual science pioneer Magnus Hirschfeld, part of the Pink, Kitsch & Revolution season.

This Pink Palace screening presents Rosa von Praunheim's 1999 biopic of Magnus Hirschfeld, the Jewish physician and pioneer of sexual science and homosexual emancipation who co-founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee in 1897 and established the world's first Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin in 1919. Told in a deliberately classical style with archival footage, the film traces Hirschfeld's life from early scientific curiosity to his exile, where he learns of the Nazis' destruction of his Institute, and also highlights companions such as trans pioneer Dora Richter. The screening is part of Pink, Kitsch & Revolution, a season celebrating von Praunheim organised by Pink Palace, the Rio Cinema and the Goethe-Institut London. Pink Palace is a relaxed weekly queer film club held in the basement bar, with each film introduced by curator Andrew Woodyatt and post-film discussion encouraged.