Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome on 16mm, w/ Brian Butler

7th House at the Philosophical Research Society, the Kenneth Anger Estate, and Los Angeles Filmforum present

Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome on 16mm, w/ Brian Butler

Friday August 1, 2025, 7:30pm
At the Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90027

NOTE THE CHANGE IN LOCATION

Please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions

An extraordinary and rare presentation of Kenneth Anger’s experimental occult classic on vibrant 16mm film!

Tickets: Ticket Price: $24 + fees (In-Person Only Event) ($17.85 total)

Free to Los Angeles Filmforum members

Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kenneth-angers-inauguration-of-the-pleasure-dome-w-brian-butleron-16mm-tickets-1486740533959?aff=oddtdtcreator

Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome: Film as Magical Ritual — A Presentation by Brian Butler

Co-presented by the Philosophical Research Society's 7th House Screenings, the Kenneth Anger Estate, and Los Angeles Filmforum.

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome is more than a film. It is a cinematic ritual that merges Aleister Crowley’s Aeon with Hollywood’s occult underground. Conceived by Kenneth Anger in the early 1950s and reworked over decades, it summoned the haunted glamour of Marjorie Cameron, Curtis Harrington, Renata Druks, and other lost avatars of the Babalon current.

Following the overwhelming response to KENNETH ANGER'S LUCIFER RISING: THE OCCULT SAGA OF A CURSED FILM at PRS in April, Brian Butler — artist, occultist, and official representative of the Kenneth Anger Estate — returns to reveal the hidden mythic currents behind Pleasure Dome. Drawing on two decades of research and first-hand connection, Butler brings rare insights into the tangled legacy of this work: from writing one of the earliest major essays on Cameron (Disinformation’s Book of Lies), to a decade-long friendship with Curtis Harrington, to visiting the house where the film was shot and working closely with Kenneth Anger to restore his lost 1958 three-screen version, which he premiered to a sold-out crowd at the Max Linder Panorama in Paris in 2015.

Part screening, part ritual transmission, this presentation features a rare 16mm reversal print from the Kenneth Anger Estate archive and invites you to step inside a magickal operation disguised as cinema — an initiatory vision that still flickers through underground culture today.

Special thanks to Los Angeles Filmforum for 16mm projection.

Photo credit: Stills © Kenneth Anger Estate. No reproduction without permission.

Special thanks to Los Angeles Filmforum for 16mm projection.

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ACCESSIBILITY

PRS wants all guests to be able to enjoy our events safely and comfortably. If you require any accessibility accommodation, please reach out to events@prs.org before showtime and we will be happy to assist you.

REFUND POLICIES

All sales are final. There are no refunds or exchanges for PRS events, except in the event of a medical emergency, including but not limited to a positive COVID-19 test. 

In the event that PRS is forced to cancel an event entirely, tickets will be refunded or vouchers offered for a rescheduled event.

PARKING

Limited parking is available onsite at PRS in both the front lot (entry from Los Feliz Blvd. when heading east) and back lot (entry from first alley way, off Griffith Park Blvd. from intersection with Los Feliz Blvd.), as well as street parking on Griffith Park Blvd. and (after 7 PM) on Los Feliz Blvd. We encourage attendees to consider carpooling, walking or biking to events if possible, and please be considerate of our Los Feliz neighbors when parking, many thanks.