The Festival
We are so happy and delighted to present to you the program of our 5th festival edition!!
With this year’s selection, we’ve continued to focus on the most exciting and eye-opening developments in Asian cinema today. That includes a renewed spotlight on Chinese animation art – wth Light Pillar as our opening film, a celebration of veteran female creators in the industry – with Mary Stephen receiving our Lifetime Achievement Award 2026, and a close look at rapidly emerging film regions —especially South Asia and South Korea, where this year’s works have been particularly impressive. We’ve also been interested in re-examining Asian diasporic communities, with Summer School, 2001 offering a rare glimpse into the life of the Czech–Vietnamese community.
It is fair to say that this year’s viewing process has been quite a rollercoaster—we had to make some tough choices and let go of quite a few favorites along the way. Still, we’re extremely happy and all the more proud of present the final lineup we’ve put together.
Once again this year, we want to celebrate popular Asian cinema as a vibrant, dazzling mass culture with our program – including numerous discussions with our film guests.
With its clear concept and two industry professionals at the helm, the fourth edition of Red Lotus presents 14 feature-length film programs in four days at the beautiful Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus and the eternally enchanting Gartenbaukino, both located in Vienna’s 1st district.
Red Lotus is aimed at people who love Asian cinema as well as all those who are new to the continent’s cinematography. Red Lotus is a showcase for Asian cinema and at the same time a hub for communication with and between the numerous Asian communities in Vienna and beyond.
Now in its fifth year, the festival will once again present a hand-picked selection of current, daring and successful films from all over Asia. We want to expand the program in the coming years, a focus on mainland China is still being planned, and a focus on South Korea in the making. We want to expand slowly but surely and continue to grow together with you, our audience.
Please keep in touch, we’ll see you at the movies very soon!
Cao Liuying and Katja Wiederspahn