Anyway, Vienna

On Screen

Independent and arthouse cinema across the city this week.

Notes: 4
Districts: 2

City index

All Vienna

4 of 4 edited notes

1st · Innere Stadt

WAX & GOLD at Österreichisches Filmmuseum

When: 5 October 2026
Where: 1st · Innere Stadt

Ruth Beckermann's WAX & GOLD follows the Vienna-born filmmaker to the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa—built by Emperor Haile Selassie as a monument to African modernization—where she unravels Ethiopia's layered history through archive footage, lobby conversations, and her own reflections as a European woman in Africa. The title refers to an Ethiopian literary technique of saying the opposite of what you mean, a metaphor Beckermann applies to the slipperiness of historical truth, colonial legacy, and the gap between image and reality. Beckermann is one of Austria's most decorated documentary filmmakers; Waldheims Walzer won the Berlinale Documentary Award and was Austria's Oscar entry. WAX & GOLD premiered as a Berlinale Special in February 2026 to strong reviews. This is a single screening at the Filmmuseum on October 5 at 20:30 in the Unsichtbares Kino—the intimate setting gives this essay film exactly the contemplative space it deserves.

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1st · Innere Stadt

Subarnarekha at Österreichisches Filmmuseum

When: 13 September 2026 – 5 October 2026
Where: 1st · Innere Stadt

Ritwik Ghatak's *Subarnarekha* (1962) is the final film in his Partition trilogy. It follows a Hindu refugee from East Bengal trying to rebuild his life on the banks of the river Subarnarekha in West Bengal, only for history's violence to catch up with him again. It is one of the most devastating films ever made about displacement, and one of the least-seen: Ghatak was a contemporary of Satyajit Ray but worked in the shadows, his raw, operatic style too unruly for mainstream Indian cinema. This screening at the Österreichisches Filmmuseum is part of the RISE UP! Film – Form – Freedom retrospective (running through 21 October). The 13 September screening comes with an introduction by Elisabeth Streit — a rare chance to see a restored print of a film that shaped generations of South Asian filmmakers. The cinema is in the 1st district, in the Albertina building on Augustinerstraße. For anyone in Vienna who cares about the politics of belonging and the long aftermath of partition, the screening is worth the journey. Check the Filmmuseum website for ticket prices and exact screening times.

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6th · Mariahilf

Teresas Körper at Top Kino

When: 29 September 2026 – 8 October 2026
Where: 6th · Mariahilf

Teresa's Körper is the debut feature of Magdalena Chmielewska, a Polish director based in Vienna. The film is a portrait of her own mother, Teresa, who has lived for years with debilitating back pain, and the three women — mother and two daughters, including Chmielewska herself — who carry the weight of that suffering together. Chmielewska blends documentary observation with fictionalized memory and ritual, creating something that sits between genres. The film won Best Director at the Max Ophüls Prize and the Jury Special Prize for Screenplay at the Diagonale 2026. It's an intimate, body-centred piece of filmmaking — the kind that rarely gets a wide release but deserves one. Screening daily at Top Kino through October 8. The film is 76 minutes, in German with English subtitles.

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1st · Innere Stadt

The Early Spring of Chinese Cinema 1922–1964 at Österreichisches Filmmuseum

When: 1 October 2026 – 22 October 2026
Where: 1st · Innere Stadt

Thirteen films spanning four decades of Chinese cinema, from the 1922 silent comedy Laborer's Love to the 1964 drama Two Stage Sisters, screened at the Österreichisches Filmmuseum. The retrospective traces Shanghai's modernist film culture through revolution, war, and political upheaval — featuring Ruan Lingyu's performance in The Goddess (1934), Fei Mu's Spring in a Small Town (1948), and the epic Spring River Flows East (1947), which drew larger audiences in China than Gone with the Wind. All prints come from the China Film Archive. Screenings run through October 22 at the Unsichtbares Kino, Augustinerstraße 1 (Albertina building), 1010 Wien.

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