Vampyros Lesbos

Linda (Ewa Strömberg) is an American in Istanbul. After having a recurring dream in which she is seduced by a beautiful vampire, Linda is sent on a business trip to an island. Once there, she meets Nadine (Soledad Miranda), a countess and a nightclub owner whom Linda immediately recognises as the seductress from her dreams – and indeed gets seduced. Insidious Dr Seward (Dennis Price) learns about it and approaches Linda in hope of using her to get hold of immortality for himself.

Vampyros Lesbos is the best known film by the classic trash cinema director Jesús Franco, titled the most dangerous filmmaker by the Vatican. It is a mixture of surrealist erotica and horror from the 1970s and one of the most interesting readings of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film creates an immersive somnambulist world where boundaries between desire, dream and banal reality melt away.

The screening is organised in cooperation with Goethe Institut in Lithuania.