This summer, the Rathausplatz will once again become a vibrant open-air venue: starting on June 29, the film festival will feature world-class music from opera, classical music, jazz and pop/rock as well as culinary delights. Before that, there will be public screenings of Austria’s European Championship matches. That’s what this summer has in store for Vienna. Free admission!
It is one of the most popular summer events in the heart of the city and Europe's biggest culture and food festival: The Film Festival at Rathausplatz founded in 1991 and located between Vienna City Hall and the Ringstrasse boulevard.This year again, it will draw hundreds of thousands of fans of good music and food to City Hall Square – with free admission on all evenings.
Public screenings of UEFA EURO 2024
The Fan Arena is one of Vienna’s public viewing locations and will screen all three of Austria’s group matches at UEFA EURO 2024 on the big screen (June 17, 21 and 25), including catering, well before the actual start of the Film Festival.Things get underway with culture and culinary delights from June 29, with the evening film program making way for soccer events on just three evenings (semi-finals on July 9 and 10 and the final on July 14). If Austria makes it to the round of 16 or even the quarter-finals of the European Championships, soccer will also be broadcast on those days.
There will be standing room only until the European Championship final on July 14 – including for watching movies. A highlight program of pop and rock is sure to create a gig-like atmosphere on the Rathausplatz. After a day of closure for modifications on July 15, the usual Film Festival entertainment will begin with rows of seats and space for 2,800 visitors in the cinema area.
Music, good food and a party atmosphere
Outstanding music productions, a place for social gatherings and top-quality culinary delights – the Film Festival offers all of this at a magical location in the heart of the city. We are looking forward to a truly spectacular program in 2024.Movies from a wide variety of genres will be shown every evening on the 300-square-meter screen, ensuring there is something for every audience. The Gastro Mile invites diners to go on a culinary journey around the world:26 gourmet stands will be offering freshly prepared dishes from all over the world from 11 a.m. to midnight.
Rock, pop and jazz: from Amy Winehouse to Coldplay
The opening act of the program will be performed by none other than the legendary Rolling Stones. Queen’s performance in front of 250,000 fans in Rio de Janeiro is one of the band’s most famous appearances. Memorable concerts given by Imagine Dragons, Amy Winehouse and Eric Clapton will also be shown on the big screen.Pop fans can also look forward to P!nk and Jessie J, and anyone who didn’t get tickets for the sold-out Coldplay concerts at the Ernst Happel Stadium can enjoy one of the British band’s most impressive shows up close with a recording of one of those gigs in 2012.
The program also includes jazz and blues stars such as nine-time Grammy Award winner Norah Jones, baritone vocalist Gregory Porter and renowned percussionist Steve Gadd.
For Austropop fans, there is the iconic Austria 3 Concert in front of Schönbrunn Palace from the year 2000 and stellar moments of Austropop from the Danube Island Festival with Marianne Mendt and Ina Regen.
© WienTourismus/Christian Stemper
Opera with Grigorian and Kaufmann
Although the Vienna State Opera will not be staging performances during the summer, several of its world-class productions can be enjoyed at the Film Festival at Vienna’s Rathausplatz. To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of the exceptional composer Giacomo Puccini, the program will feature his two operas Madama Butterfly and Turandot with stellar casts (including Asmik Grigorian and Jonas Kaufmann). Kaufmann will also be performing in Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello. There will also be a legendary recording of Gaetano Donizetti’s La Fille du régiment with Juan Diego Flórez and Natalie Dessay.Claudio Montiverdi’s L’Orfeo is as visually stunning as it is opulently staged.
Even more opera is provided by the MusikTheater an der Wien in the form of Antonio Salieri’s Kublai Khan from 1786. The Vienna Volksoper presents Jolanthe and the Nutcracker, an evening of ballet performed by the Vienna State Ballet, in which two works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky are brought together.
© stadt wien marketing
Celebrating classical music & anniversaries
Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony will be performed simultaneously in Leipzig, Paris, Milan and Vienna this year in a unique collaboration of four orchestras to mark the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is celebrating its 100th anniversary and the Film Festival will be marking Arnold Schönberg’s 150th birthday with a series of concerts. Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic will perform the first Bruckner cycle to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner. The Czech composer Bedřich Smetana was also born 200 years ago and the Film Festival will be presenting a gala concert of his greatest works in his honor. One evening is dedicated to each of two outstanding artists who died recently, the Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa and the Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini.
© WienTourismus / Christian Stemper
Side events
Performances of the Children’s Opera Festival will start every Friday at 5pm. Before that, the youngsters can let off steam at the “Bewegung findet Stadt” activity area in the Rathauspark.
A live DJ will be on hand to deliver great sounds in the hospitality area (Thu-Sat from 5pm). Two (live!) concert evenings are planned in collaboration with Kultursommer Wien (July 20: brass music, July 21: choral evening). Songwriter Sessions will showcase musical talents on July 13 and August 10.The multi-day World Orchestra Festival invites you to a concert at the Film Festival from July 25 to 27, and on August 25, the 5 O’Clock Tanztee (Dance Tea) performed by the Vienna Dance Schools will transform Rathausplatz into a ballroom.
34th Film Festival at Vienna’s Rathausplatz 2024
June 29 - September 1, 2024 (daily, only closed on July 15)
Movie starts at nightfall
Food and drink: 11am – midnight
Free admission!
www.filmfestival-rathausplatz.at
Fan Arena on Vienna’s Rathausplatz during UEFA EURO 2024:
Group stage – Austria’s matches in Group D:
Matchday 1: Monday, June 17, 9pm (Austria vs. France)
Matchday 2: Friday, June 21, 6pm (Poland vs. Austria)
Matchday 3: Tuesday, June 25, 6pm (Netherlands vs. Austria)
Round of sixteen and quarter-finals:Only matches involving Austria if the national team progresses to the round of 16 and quarter-finals.
Semi-finals:Tuesday, July 9, 9pm & Wednesday, July 10, 9pm
Final:Sunday, July 14, 9pm
