An evening silent film screening: Emperor Nero and the Spectacle of Ancient Rome – Quo Vadis? (1913) accompanied by live music.
Wednesday 9 September 2026, from 7.30pm
The Cinema Museum, Kennington
This celebrated epic offers a detailed adaption to screen of a popular novel in which a romance between a Roman soldier and a Christian girl is played out in the dangerous conditions of Rome, where Nero burns the city down and persecutes the Christians, while Saint Peter flees but returns to protect his suffering flock. The film’s title comes from the question the apostle is supposed to have asked when he sees a vision of Christ walking along the Via Appia: ‘Where are you going Lord? ‘ (in Latin: quo vadis, domine?). The film began a whole international cycle of spectacular epics set in the ancient world that continue to this day. Quo vadis? was greatly admired for the rich detail of its sets, the choreography of its vast crowds, its suggestive use of location shooting, the spectacular quality of its arena scenes, the emotional draw of its private love story and the uplift of its religious dimensions.
The event takes place at the quirky Cinema Museum in Kennington from 19:30. Details can be found HERE as well as the means to reserve seats (£8-£18, payment is at the door on the night).
This screening is being run in association with the AHRC-funded research project Museum of Dreamworlds based at University College London and led by Maria Wyke (who will introduce the Cinema Museum programme, including a few antiquity shorts). The project, drawing on the surviving films in the BFI National Archive, asks how did early cinema design its Greek and Roman dreamworlds? What did cinema gain from recreating the distant past? What did that past gain from being recreated in moving images? The project also considers how these films were once used as instruments of education and what educative potential they might have today. The main outcome of the project is a website where many of the BFI silent antiquity films are now available for viewing alongside analyses of them.
You can also follow the project at: www.instagram.com/museumof_dreamworlds/ and/or contact the project team directly at museumofdreamworlducl@gmail.com
Note: this is a fee-paying event run by an organisation which is not affiliated to, or funded by, the Classical Association. Please contact the organisers directly with any enquiries.
