The Shanghai International Film Festival returns in its 14th incarnation this weekend! From June 11th-19th, over two hundred films (including "seven film noir classics") will be shown in 24 theaters across the city. more ›

If China knows how to do one thing right, then it’s building desperately average theme parks with the most over the top themes (See World of WarCraft Amusement Park for evidence). No wonder then, last Thursday the Huayi Brothers Media Corp announced its newest venture; a movie-theme park. more ›

Vienna Café goes epic tonight, when showing Yimou Zhang´s drama "To Live" (Huozhe) from 1994. The film who is based on the novel of the same name by Yu Hua, earned several awards and nominations in Cannes that year, as well as other international film festivals. The story starts in the forties, moves passed the CCP´s 1949 victory, on to the Cultural Revolution in 1966 and onwards... more ›

In 2008, at the age of 86, Alain Resnais, one of the most prominent filmmakers in French film history, once again got behind the camera. The result was Les Herbes Folles (Wild Grass), which earned him a lifetime achievement award in Cannes, as well as a nomination for the Palme d´Or (The Golden Palm). This upcoming Friday you have a chance to enjoy the romantic drama at Alliance Française! more ›

"David Cronenberg and William S. Burroughs invite you to lunch". This Tuesday´s SubCinema at Dada presents Naked Lunch, (1991) a partially biographical interpretation of William Burroughs book with the same name. It might be a bit dark and gory, but isn´t that how we know Cronenberg´s movies best? more ›

If you´ve missed the first four films of The German Consulate´s month-long Fatih Akin Retrospective there are still two more flicks to go, this coming Friday, and the next. One musical documentary and one thought-provoking culture crossing drama. Fatih Akin is a Turkish-German director with a series of successful and award winning movies behind him, such as Im Juli (In July, 2000) the Golden Bear-awarded Gegen die Wand (Head-On, 2004) as well as last year´s New York, I Love You. more ›

So dooown the rabbit hole we go again! We´ve been waiting for months and here it finally comes, the Tim Burton - Johnny Depp - Helena Bonham Carter-fueled version of the classic tale Alice in Wonderland. more ›

With the tagline "Does for rock and roll what The Sound of Music did for hills", we wonder if you can possibly refuse this week´s SubCinema screening. The film in question is This Is Spinal Tap, a mockumentary about the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap. That is, a fake documentary about a fake band - that became real in the process. Well, kind of real anyway. more ›

Follow the basketball wonder LeBron James and the St. Vincent-St. Mary High School basketball team as they rise to (the) stars in More Than a Game, the documentary that has now reached Shanghai movie theaters. more ›

¡Híjole! If last week´s Espacio Femenino´s smorgasbord of Spanish movies wasn't enough, here´s another chance to indulge yourself in cinema en Español. A whole month of Mexican films lies ahead of us, as the Consulate General of Mexico and of Spain have been so kind to dig up a list of classics that will be given us for free. It´s called The 2010 Mexican Bicentennial Film Festival and all we say is: ¡vamos! more ›

If Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas isn't checked off your list of classic must-see movies, Vienna Café will help you sort this out on Thursday! Johnny Depp styled to the point of impossibility of recognition, an immensely decadent ride through Las Vegas casinos and hotel rooms, one of the most vivid depictions of a psychedelic drug rush and in the same time a crucial part of journalistic history. Legendary reporter Hunter S. Thompson made the journey that became a book that became a movie... more ›

Can we ever get enough of kung fu movies? We don't think so, and are therefore thankful to the Chinese movie industry for offering us its never ending stream of beautifully set fighting epics. This time, we´ll cuddle up in the cinemas to 14 Blades,(锦衣卫) a 14th century Ming-era martial arts movie from director Daniel Lee starring Donnie Yen and Vicki Zhao. more ›

Get a closer look at the 19th century French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine and get tangled into the symbolist movement, absinthe hazes and gay love scenes. Later this afternoon Vienna Café shows the 1995 movie Total Eclipse which depicts the friendship between the two poets. more ›

We've counted to three in where to find chocolate, ladies nights, brunches, scary stuff, video games and more in our Threesday feature... now it's about time to gather three movie nights. more ›

Not many new movies showing up in Shanghai this week as it seems, but at least Alliance Francaise offers "a movie - a book" event on Wednesday that sounds tempting. It goes in the footsteps of Marcel Proust, so for literature lovers it should be a mind treat. more ›

The most talked about climate flick since An Inconvenient Truth is down for its first licensed showing in Shanghai this Wednesday! The Age of Stupid tells the story of how our era´s stupidity and lack of action in the climate matter will be looked upon from a futuristic point of view, namely in the devastated world of 2055. The movie didn´t make it into Chinese cinemas so Dulwich College in Shanghai is now showing it, making Wednesday´s event one of the few public screenings in China of this engaging film. Sounds like a must-do! more ›

On Thursday 3 December, Vienna Café will, as they put it, "finally will bring some good laughs to our wee cinema, to celebrate the arrival of the winter and the holiday season." The 2007 comedy Death at a funeral shows the strange and hysterical happenings taking place at what was supposed to be a dignified family gathering. more ›

Mulan, the old Chinese tale that was made into a Disney movie in 1998, is finally finding its way back home to its original country. Under the direction of Jingle Ma and with Zhao Wei in the leading role, the movie about the female warrior goes up on cinemas starting Friday. Who can resist another epic costume drama from China?! more ›

Are you a party animal, do you love electronic music, and do you happen to dream about the city of Berlin for just those reasons? Then you should come to Vienna Café on Thursday, who will show the 2008 flick Berlin Calling - a film about a Berlin DJ and his attempt to make it in the club music industry, "a melodramatic tragic comedy set in the world’s most recognizable and bustling hub of dance music activity today." more ›

Have you discovered Sub-Cinema, the new bi-weekly film screenings that started taking place at Dada last month? Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month you can watch cult classics, B-movies, independent cinema and documentaries - all for free! This week it´s time for Babylon, Franco Rosso´s film about black youth growing up in South London. more ›

Alliance Française keeps serving movies to all who are charmed by the rich French cinema history. On Saturday they offer a "crossed movies"- experience, where one 1953 Jacques Tati classic meets a 2008 drama featuring Isabelle Huppert. The event is called "Crossed Movies : Modern and burlesque society". more ›

Oh good heavens, the new Michael Jackson documentary is here! For all of us who have spent hours in nostalgia, watching old videos and performances and nervously followed the news around his passing...here comes finally something yet unseen. This Is It is the recordings around the popstar´s preparations for his planned 2009 tour with the same name. The movie will be screened at cinemas during two weeks only, so you better get moving! more ›

And so yet another Americanized 3D version of an old animation classic crashes upon us. This week Imagi Studio's version of "Astro Boy," the superhero story that originated as a manga in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka, sees its worldwide release. And with the release of the movie, a huge marketing carousel filled with toys, books and video games starts spinning as well. It raises some questions on how to actually best do our old classics justice. more ›

Slinkys, Pet Rocks, Ant Farms… behind each of those great novelties is the story of a great Novelty Inventor. ‘Made In China’ is the story of one such inventor. more ›

Vienna Café cooks up with a Truffaut movie this coming Thursday! One of film history´s most important directors didn't only write and direct Les 400 coups, Jules et Jim, Baisers volés...but also Le Dernier métro (The last metro), which is the movie of choice for this week. more ›

The old ladies and fellas you see dancing in the parks in the morning, China´s "forgotten generation", rarely gets a chance to be the central subject in Chinese movies. Director Ye Kai is now presenting an exception to that rule, by creating a feel-good comedy about a charming group of elderly amateur dancers, caught up in a quest to win a competition that will let them take part in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. more ›

Vienna Café once again enriches our existence with an LGBT-related movie! On Thursday 24 September the "dark Irish comedy" Breakfast on Pluto from 2005 will be featured. Director Neil Jordan is previously known for The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. more ›

As many independent films aren't welcome on the cinema charts and often only get public screening in connection with film festivals, one should definitely take the chance when these low budget, yet high quality movies finally appear on a silver screen. Now this opportunity has reached Shanghai's own independent film director, Kevin Kai Huang (黄凯), and his movie Park Shanghai. Well, at least on Sundays... during the month of September... more ›

Update: Due to ownership quarrels, the film Buenos Aires Zero Degree will not be screened as planned on Thursday. Vienna Café is replacing it with Stephen Daldry´s The Hours. And while that´s an awesome movie, it´s still a sad exchange, since The Hours has probably already been seen by most of us and is very easy to access - while...heaven knows when we´ll get the chance to see that Wong Kar Wai Documentary again... more ›

Had your share of robots transforming into vehicles, lisping ground sloths that adopt dinosaur eggs and and the wizardry of Hogwarts? Here's another cinematic solution for you! Every Thursday, Vienna Café at Shaoxing Lu offers a different film choice for the Shanghai movie audience. This week's movie is a reality based border-crossing romance between a Turkish actress and her Kurdish lover. more ›