Cinema

Situated near the very core of Vienna’s inner city this cinema is easy to find and offers makes it easy to round up your visit with a leisurely evening walk through Burggarten, which is right next to it.

Burgkino has been enchanting me from the very beginning with its decent, authentic and a little bit old fashioned in- and exterior. The big red letters above the entry promoting tonight’s shows, the small theatre café and those real cosy armchairs inside the auditorium make it feel very special watching a movie there.

All movies are shown in their original version, sometimes including English subtitles, and even on Sundays ticket prices stay fair. There’s always one of their “special performances” such as an independent documentary or a rather unknown road-movie. And let’s not forget about its participation in movie festivals!

And here’s the cherry on the cake! Burgkino regularly shows “The Third Man” which is, as you’ll read in your travel guide in case you have one, one of the few popular movies being filmed completely in and..well…partly under Vienna. A real authentic Vienna experience, you see?

But just as a warning, after watching don’t bother getting the movie’s catchy soundtrack out of your mind for the rest of your visit, you won’t succeed.

The Loft is a fairly new spot that opened about two years ago. This bar/cinema/pavilion/… attracted me in the first place because of its attitude. The owners regard themselves as ‘easy & casual’ which also is the kind of customer they want to allure. Given that the musical concept is not put into frame but flexible to differing parties, you get Electro, Hip Hop, Rock and Funk as well as unclassified genres.

Tuesdays are reserved for the movie night called filmloft where one can enjoy great shows for free! The movies’ topic changes every other month, original soundtrack. On Wednesday evenings singer/songwriters get the opportunity to perform – again entry is free of charge. Fridays and Saturdays are open to varied parties, dancing strictly recommended!

Their guiding slogan: “Working hard for better parties in Vienna!” tells you what to expect.

Maybe there is no nicer cinema in Vienna (apart from Gartenbaukino and Künstlerhauskino) than Filmcasino. It all started in 1911 as a Kinematographentheatre, turned into a cinema later which luckily escaped from being completely damaged in 1946. The interior you surely will admire, is from the 1950′s, with a restoration done in 1989.

Once you enter the cinema you are in some kind of time warp. Wooden panels on the walls, old sofa/benches and couches, beautiful lamps, mirrors and wall paper. There is only one big show room with a (newly made, but stunning) ornamented ceiling. The chairs are comfy, the screen is huge, the audience mixed with loads of committed cinema-lovers and the programme is great (with films very often shown in original language with subtitles). So what else do you need to be called one of the nicest cinemas in Vienna?

Check out the website, as there are often very interesting small film festivals taking part in filmcasino – e.g. latin movie film festival or queer film festivals.

Topkino is the place if you are a true lover of great movies (subtitled, original versions; films from all over the world), but can’t resist to have a beer or two after (or before) going to the movies. And if you’d rather have a solid meal in your stomach before watching some of the serious films, this is the right place as well. At Topkino you really find 3 in 1!!

Topkino is situated in a nice old building and the bar is a long and spacious room with very high ceilings, packed with people on old sofas, chairs, at coffee tables etc.

The showroom of the cinema is neither huge nor too comfortable, but they really show very special movies, you hardly see in any other cinema (though Vienna is a great place for movie connoisseurs) and of course also award winning movies from Filmfestival in Cannes or other smaller film festivals. So it is definitely worth checking out the programme before or after going to the bar.

If you can’t help yourself but turn from a tourist to a resident in Vienna, and if you are fond of movies, this could be the perfect spot for you. It may sound strange to introduce a video shop, but this is not like any other middle class video rental store, no, this is something for the dedicated film lover.

You find films from Cassavetes to Kinski, from Fassbender to Fellini, not to mention regular topic series (like now: Marilyn Monroe due to her 50th anniversary of her death). The only drop of bitterness: you need to live in Vienna…so go and ask your Viennese friends to get a membership, the sooner the better. And for those who are not residents: just hang out in the cafe area and enjoy a good coffee, Slovenian beer, Austrian wine,  any of the non alcoholic beverages- and the perfectly nice service of the charming staff working there.