Cinemas & movie theaters – All our local tips

Living room ambiente at a video rental store…it is located right off the busy shopping street- a calm habour for movie-lovers (maily oldschool and arthouse).

Every 1st Sunday/month – “Patschenkino” (translates to slipper cinema) meaning that you can behave like at home, you can smoke, drink, feel free to chill, be yourself and enjoy THE art of movie making. They have a great selection of  Arthouse, classics, insider tips, movies for children, rare stuff and tv-series – and TATATATATA – the usual suspects: BLOCKBUSTERS.

And even the “gourmets” get there money’s worth – Illy coffee (Italian), Lasko beer from Slovenia, Austrian wine, healty juices, Frucade (a BOBO drink, I used to drink it as a kind, the relaunched the brand), Fritz Cola (same) and various snacks. You can either have them for take away or enjoy your snacks and drinks there.

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Cinethek OZ | Art & culture, Cinemas, Relaxing | Per DVD per night € 3.60
Lindengasse 53 | Inner districts
Mon – Fri 14:00 – 23:00, Sat 12:00- 12:00, Sun 12:00 – 19:30

At the Filmmuseum you may watch everything but the Hollywood blockbuster movies. I like to think of it as the artistic, alternative cinema in Vienna.

They often have theme programmes, mostly older (black and white) movies and artistic ones. If you walk in uninformed it may happen that you catch an endlessly long short- film of a single perspective of a moving staircase (it made me challenge my perception of art).

The ambiance is simple but classy. For example the screening room is called “Invisible room” because it’s completely black and without any ornaments. It was designed in order to keep the focus on the film. The bar fits to this description as well. It is small and black leather seats are placed at the windows in a kind of notch. The red house wine there is cheap AND tasty.

Due to new regulations smoking is only allowed after 21.00.

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Das Filmmuseum | Bars, Cinemas, Snacks | Entrance adults € 9.50
Augustinerstraße 1 | Old city/center | +4315337054
Bar: 10:00 – 00:00 daily | box office: one hour before 1st screening

Not only is Gartenbaukino a festival location for the independent film festival Viennale but also a host for every year’s Oscar Award -night screening including free breakfast at 3ish am.

Built in the 60ies it still got that kind of communist-Berlin-style touch to it, retro-style as we would put it now. It has got more than 700 cosy, non – Cineplex seats and a huge wide-screen with old school curtains that open when the movie starts. Gartenbaukino is an integral part to Viennale’s success (side note- Viennale is the owner of Gartenbaukino).

Along side with other independent art house movie theaters like the stylish Metro, the small but nice Stadtkino (all of them also Viennale locations) or DeFrance (focus on French movies) the purpose of Gartenbaukino is to be an opponent to the commercial franchise cinema complexes that spring up like mushrooms.

I have to admit that sometimes they are more convenient than the old ones (wider screens, more service, ) but they’ve got no unique character and there’s definitely no genuine interest in showing movies that are not part of mainstream pop culture.

COMING TO TOWN “up in the Air” – the new Clooney movie – maybe a mainstream movie but watch it an extraordinary setting – the Gartenbaukino.

IMPORTANT NOTE – already a bit in advance. March7th,-nite of the Oscar’s (aka the Oscar Award) – great ambiente, bfast for free, great talks – better than in front of your a small tv – all by yourself.

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Gartenbaukino | Art & culture, Cinemas, Festivals & events | Row 4- 14 € 6.50
Parkring 12 | Old city/center | +4315122354
Daily

Thousands of cars pass by every day on the “Gürtel”; the red-light-district is only minutes away; the nearby shopping street is attracting crowds to spend money for little and big things. And in between all these noises, rackets and hectic atmosphere, you can take a deep breath and take a break at the city’s main library at Urban Loritz Square. Even the building, connected to the underground station, just stands out and promises something different.

The promise is kept: In the modern library not only book lovers and newspaper addicts find an impressive number of 288.000 books, but also 57.300 AV Media (DVDs, CDs, computer games,…), 130 PCs and 40 audio- and video-stations. The prices are also very modest: There is a yearly ticket for 18 Euros, but you can also get a daily pass for borrowing objects for the next 4 weeks.

Of course there is also a special children section in the library, a planet for kids named “Kirango”. which can be found online as well.

There are always lots of events taking place at Urban Loritz Square such as exhibitions, flea markets and – of course – readings; almost all of them for free! And if you are exhausted from browsing through all this or if you want to read immediately, take some more steps up to the Café restaurant Canetti, where there is a good view from the terrace and quite delicious food. Your journey to another world can start…

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Library at Urban Loritz Square | Art & culture, Cinemas, Music, Shopping, Festivals & events, Restaurants (Intern.)
Urban-Loritz-Platz 2a | Inner districts | +431400084500
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 19:00, Sat 11:00 – 17:00

All movie cinemas offer popcorn, chips, softdrinks, chocolate while watching the newest Hollywood blockbuster? All?! No, not all! One rebellious fighter against mainstream cinema remains: Topkino.

Located close to Mariahilferstraße, Topkino – together with the affiliated Schikander one of the repertory art-house cinemas in Vienna – is known for showing independent movies and focusing on small-budget-pieces-of-art. Another speciality is the Sunday film brunch where you can watch a movie (starting at 12.30) and indulge yourself with a great brunch buffet before or after the film. For those who don´t call themselves “early birds”, there is a special Saturday night line in March and April. And if you want to enjoy a movie together with all your loved ones, you can also rent the movie for private occasions.

As I said though, showing movies is not enough: Topkino is also known as a great hang-out location, restaurant and bar. The menu is quite something and the bar promotes itself on the website as offering everything from “real Italian cappuccino from a venetian coffee roastery to flavourful Single Mal Whiskey from the Scottish Highlands”. All this you can enjoy while surfing on the internet (WLAN is for free if you consume something) or – if you happen to be in Vienna around summertime – in the outdoor area.

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Topkino | Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Intern.)
Rahlgasse 1 | Inner districts | +432083000
Mon – Wed 15:00 – 02:00, Thu – Sat 15:00 – 04:00, Sun 10:30 – 00:00 (Jul – Sep Sun from 15:00)