Here you can find a first glimpse of our upcoming events in September and October 2026. The full program with all details and dates will be published around August 17, 2026.
Program Preview September / October 2026
(September 1 to October 22, 2026)
The Early Spring of Chinese Cinema 1922–1964
Collection on Screen: Aardman Animation
Collection on Screen: Michael Mann
Collection on Screen: RISE UP! Film – Form – Freedom
In the Beginning Was the Word ... In Memoriam Harry Tomicek
In Person: Peggy Ahwesh
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty: A First "Restoration"
Cinema for Little Ones: It's a Wild Ride!
In Person: Zanele Muholi
New Uncertainties: Austrian Documentary Film in the 1990s - A Visit from the Diagonale
In Memoriam Ken Jacobs
Ruth Beckermann: WAX & GOLD
In Person: Claudia Larcher
Cinema for Little Ones: So What Did You Discover?
Conversations with Women Film Pioneers: Hannelore Uhrmacher
In Person: Josef Dabernig
Reel Adventures
Flotsam: The Unknown Collection - Films by Julius Edgar Boehm and May Fürst
Peter Kubelka's Cycle What Is Film: Program 1–16
September 11 to October 22, 2026
The Early Spring of Chinese Cinema 1922–1964
This fall, a unique retrospective will shed light on the birth of Chinese cinema and its first golden age, beginning in 1896 at the Xu Gardens in Shanghai, the epicenter of a rapidly evolving cinematic modernity. Among the early sensations are milestones such as the ingeniously crafted comedy Laborer's Love (1922) and the fantastical spectacle The Cave of the Silken Web (1927). The 1930s are represented by politically progressive social melodramas in which stars like Ruan Lingyu, in The Goddess (1934), embodied the suffering of a threatened nation. A particular highlight is Fei Mu's aestheticized masterpiece Spring in a Small Town (1948), which is now considered one of the most significant films in cinema history. Late works such as Early Spring (1963) and the epic Two Stage Sisters (1964) demonstrate that cinema found subtly subversive paths even under Mao. [...]September 2 to October 4, 2026
Aardman Animation
Collection on Screen
With the beloved duo of Wallace & Gromit, the claymation studio's international breakthrough began to take shape. Their success in our country also meant that, in addition to the rare prints of their early short films, more Aardman gems have been added to our collection. [...]September 2 to Oktober 22, 2026
Michael Mann
Collection on Screen
Director, screenwriter, and producer Michael Mann (born 1943) is one of Hollywood's last great auteurist filmmakers. He is most famous for extraordinary crime films like Heat (1996), with which he proved himself to be both an idiosyncratic storyteller and a fantastic stylist. [...]September 6 to October 21, 2026
RISE UP! Film – Form – Freedom
Collection on Screen
This series explores the evolution of cinematic approaches to self-determination and identity. It brings together selected works from the politically and socially diverse eras of Third Cinema, including productions from 2006 that were originally created as part of the New Crowned Hope Festival. [...]September 9, 2026
In the Beginning Was the Word ...
In Memoriam Harry Tomicek
In memory of Harry Tomicek (1945–2025), who was a close collaborator of our institution for decades as an author and scholar. [...]September 16 and 17, 2026
Peggy Ahwesh
In Person
Since the 1970s, American media artist Peggy Ahwesh (born 1954) has worked with a wide range of technologies, using their materiality and aesthetics to explore her own themes. [...]September 18, 2026
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty
A First "Restoration"
Esfir Shub's Fall of the Romanov Dynasty is a foundational work of compilation film about the cause and consequences of the 1917 Russian Revolution. [...] September 20, 2026
Cinema for Little Ones
It's a Wild Ride!
Cinema for Little Ones brings film programs to children ages 3 and up and their families. Big and small animals play the lead roles here. [...]September 20, 2026
Zanele Muholi
In Person
Zanele Muholi (they/them) is a South African visual activist and photographer. For more than two decades, Muholi has documented the lives of South Africa's Black queer people. [...] September 23 to 28, 2026
New Uncertainties
Austrian Documentary Film in the 1990s
A Visit from the Diagonale
The historical program New Uncertainties, which was first presented in a slightly different constellation at the Diagonale this past March, presents a selection of twelve films. [...]September 30, 2026
Ken Jacobs
In Memoriam
Until his death in October 2025, Ken Jacobs was one of the longest surviving links to the emergence of post-war independent filmmaking. [...]October 5, 2026
Ruth Beckermann
WAX & GOLD
In her new film, WAX & GOLD, Ruth Beckermann delves into Ethiopia's past and present. [...]October 7 and 8, 2026
Claudia Larcher
In Person
Viennese artist, filmmaker, and AI researcher Claudia Larcher is the focus of a survey program at the Film Museum, which covers almost two decades of her visual practice. [...]October 11, 2026
Cinema for Little Ones
So What Did You Discover?
This children's program shows that there are interesting things to discover even in your own garden or while taking a walk on familiar streets. [...]October 12, 2026
Conversations with Women Film Pioneers
Hannelore Uhrmacher
Following the screening of the film Menschenfrauen (1979, VALIE EXPORT), Birgit Hirscher and Julia Pühringer will speak with makeup artist Hannelore Uhrmacher. [...]October 14 to 21, 2026
Josef Dabernig
In Person
Shortly after his 70th birthday, we celebrate Austrian artist Josef Dabernig with a complete retrospective of his films, expanded by a carte blanche and a glimpse into his work in other domains. [...]October 15, 2026
Reel Adventures
What do private films tell us about life in Vienna? This question was the focus of the research project Reel Adventures, which took amateur films in the Film Museum's collection as its starting point. [...]October 18, 2026
The Unknown Collection: Films by Julius Edgar Boehm and May Fürst
Flotsam
A collection of sixteen anonymous amateur films from the 1920s and 1930s served as the starting point for a search that, at its preliminary conclusion, managed to solve a few mysteries. [...]Each Tuesday