It’s a bar, it’s a cinema, it’s everything a true bohemian nightfall’s heart desires. To begin with the bar – it’s grungy and looks like the insides of a cocaine addicts nostril, and we love it. It’s a legend amongst the locals for the character it naturally emanates that it has earned over its many years as a dive bar to hangout in, in a come-as-you-are atmosphere. Then there’s the indie cinema attached to it. Run by the same crowd as those that run the Top Kino, this is an integral part of Vienna’s film scene. Fitting to the interior and the whole atmosphere, you won’t find any blockbusters up on the screen here, but instead, indie cinema is shown here, usually in its original version, or with subtitles. It also screens many of the films from the human rights film festival, This Human World.
The run-down Beisl (Austrian for bar) attached to it is full of the kind of people that frequent the films shown here – students, creatives, individuals sharing heated discussions about the latest social trend or quirk, or the current political issue. Don’t expect a huge cinema, yet rather a small, grungy, living room affair.
Good to know: you can easily rent the Schikaneder to premiere your own movie masterpiece.
Showtimes: see here
