We've counted to three in where to find chocolate, ladies nights, brunches, scary stuff, video games and more in our Threesday feature... now it's about time to gather three movie nights.

Every week our city offers alternative film screenings, a great way to watch the movies you never get the chance to see in regular cinemas: independent films, cult cinema, LGBT-movies and documentaries. These evenings often feature lectures, open discussions or maybe an opportunity to meet the director - everything you'd need to boost your film knowledge.

While there were already some excellent movie nights earlier in the week (Dada's showing of Millenium Mambo comes to mind), we'll focus this Threesday on those you can still catch. Here are our three choices for the coming weekend:

1. Animated short movies @ Alliance Française de Shanghai.

Alliance Française keeps the flag high when it comes to offering serious cultural discussions, meetings with authors or movie directors, and deep analyses of different art works.

This weekend, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival (the world's first animated film festival), Alliance Française will screen two participating films. Enjoy We Are Not Machines on Jan. 15 at the Alliance´s Hongkou branch and Childishness on Jan. 17 at the Changning branch. The Friday movie, We Are Not Machines is as follows:

A fakir ties himself in knots to get into a mixer; a yard working perfectly until a grain of sand destroys the machines; a man buys himself a woman in spare parts. Eleven short animation films, French and foreigner, about alienation and humanity

The event will be introduced by Eric Saldinger, French Alliance Director. The Saturday event will instead be followed by a snack and a magic show. The movie Childishness is a collection of several short stories:

A teacher asks her pupils to draw a butterfly. A lecturer revisits the history of Art. In a drought-hit village of southern India, a family is waiting for the dance of the rain… These fourteen animation short movies will also present you two adventurous octopus, acarids looking for something to eat in a carpet, an ogre who lost his teeth, and many other ecstatic characters !

Keep in mind that the screenings are held on different days, at different locations, and that they are in French with Chinese subtitles. Keep yourself posted on the cultural events offered by Alliance Française by visiting their calendar.

Friday screening: We Are Not Machines @ 7pm, Alliance Française de Shanghai Hongkou Center, 6th floor, 297 WuSong Lu near Tanggu Lu, 吴淞路297号近塘沽路
Sunday screening: Childishness @ 3:45pm, Alliance Française de Shanghai Changning Center, 155 Wuyi Lu near Anxi Lu, 武夷路155号近安西路,
reservation required (call: 6226 4005)

2. Julie & Julia @ 288 Melting Pot's Saturday Oscar Movie

288 Melting Pot, situated in the French concession, offers live performances of urban soul, contemporary jazz, blues and smooth R&B played by professional musicians. The house serves Thai food at lunch and dinner, plays host to weekly open mic jam sessions and, last but definitely not least, also hosts a weekly Saturday film screening.

On Saturday they will feature Nora Ephron´s comedy drama Julie & Julia (2009). It's one of the first movies based on a blog... or to be more exact: the movie's screenplay is adapted from two books: Julia Child's autobiography My Life in France and a memoir by Julie Powell, based on her blog The Julie/Julia Project. Julia Child is depicted by the ever so charming Meryl Streep, and Julie Powell by Amy Adams.

According to 288 Melting Pot´s own description, their Saturday night cinema always feature Oscar movies. Well, to call Julie & Julia an Oscar movie is a bit of a stretch; the only connection with the Academy Awards is that Meryl Streep has earned two Oscars throughout her acting career, while Amy Adams has been nominated for one. But who cares about awards anyway?

Saturday screening:Julie & Julia @ 3pm, 288 Melting Pot, 10 Hengshan lu near Yongjia lu, 衡山路10号进永嘉路, 48RMB cover.

3. Maurice @ Cinema of Truth

Cinema of Truth in the art block on Weihai Lu is a movie salon where indie movie lovers can watch low budget films and documentaries, make friends and meet the directors. On Sundays it turns into a LGBT film club where you can grab a drink and watch gay-themed feature films and short videos. Participants can also take turns in introducing and showing clips from their own favorite LGBT movies. The site also holds screenings of Chinese independent films and is located on the same floor as the gay-themed meeting space "The Closet". This Sunday it will host Maurice (1987), a classic tale of forbidden love:

Two male English school chums find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. To regain his place in society, Clive gives up his forbidden love, Maurice (pronounced "Morris") and marries. While staying with Clive and his shallow wife, Anne, Maurice finally discovers romance in the arms of Alec, the gamekeeper. Written from personal pain, it's E.M. Forster's story of coming to terms with sexuality in the Edwardian age.

The role of Clive is played by Hugh Grant. Who knew that the puppy eyed British actor had featured in a gay movie? A nice surprics, we would say, for an actor who often tends to play the same role over and over...

Sunday screening:Maurice @ 4pm, Cinema of Truth, Rm. 411 Bldg 11, 696 Weihai Lu near Maoming Bei Lu, 威海路696号进茂名北路, 10RMB cover.

Check out what other movies are showing in Shanghai this coming week. Links lead to info about times and venues.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE MOVIES

• Avatar: (阿凡达): James Cameron is back with this super expensive sci-fi thriller in 3D. Follow ex-marine Jack (Sam Worthington) as he explores planet Pandora as an “avatar,” a human mind in an alien body. On this paradise-like planet, he faces hostilities from exotic life forms and falls in love with a female alien. This movie used ground-breaking techniques and is being shown in 3-D. In English or Chinese depending on the cinema.
• The Twilight Saga: The New Moon (暮光之城): The supernatural tale of star-crossed lovers continues as the Cullen family flees Forks in order to protect Bella (Kristen Stewart), and the heartbroken high-school senior discovers that vampires aren't the only creatures in town.
• 2012: Ever get chills from the Mayan prophecy that predicts the world will end on December 21, 2012? Sony Pictures’ upcoming disaster drama 2012 simulates the catastrophic happenings of the last days of the earth with plenty of epic floods and destruction. The Day after Tomorrow director Roland Emmerich helms. John Cusack and Amanda Peet star. The film boasts a sky-high US$200 million budget and breath-taking special effects. In English with Chinese subtitles.
• District 9: This sci-fi flick delivers an amazing story about extraterrestrials who come to live on Earth. Instead of being hostile attackers, these aliens are actually refugees from space who seek asylum. They get set up in the temporary “home”: District 9 in South Africa. The film’s special effects are jaw-dropping and the alien guns are simply ridiculous. In English with Chinese subtitles.

CHINESE LANGUAGE MOVIES

• Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser (名侦探柯南：漆黑的追踪者): The 13th episode in the Japanese movie franchise starring Japanese detective Conan finally comes to Shanghai. This 2009 anime film follows the prodigious young detective as he solves a serial murder case in Japan. Six people are killed and Mahjong tiles are left next to each victim as a strange clue. Dubbed in Mandarin or in Japanese with Chinese subtitles, depending on the cinema.
• Poker King (扑克王): See amazing gambling tricks in this Hong Kong comedy. Louis Koo stars as Randy, who’s just inherited a majority stake in a casino in Macau, but hasn’t yet earned the trust of the casino’s other shareholders. So he joins a gambling tournament and tries to beat all rivals, including the casino’s seasoned manager. In Cantonese or Mandarin depending on the cinema.
• The Spy Next Door (邻家特工): Seasoned secret agent Bob Ho has lived through a number of impossible missions, but he soon realizes that watching his girlfriend’s three kids will be his toughest task yet. Featuring Jackie Chan as the undercover babysitter, the film shows you how complicated babysitting can be, even for a skillful spy. Language TBA.
• Bodygards and Assasins (十月圍城): This historical drama features an all-star cast, including action star Donnie Yen and Fan Bingbing. It also happens to mark the screen debut of Super Girl Li Yuchun. Set in the early 20th century in Hong Kong, the plot follows a group of revolutionaries fighting against the British and Qing government to protect Republic of China founder, Sun Yet-san. Director Teddy Chan is reported to have spent almost 10 years masterminding this flick. In Cantonese or Mandarin depending on cinema.
• Amazing Tales: Three Guns (三枪拍案惊奇): This comedy thriller, also known as "A Simple Noodle Story" is Zhang Yimou's remake of the Coen brothers´ "Blood Simple". The story begins as a noodle restaurant-owner in the northwest part of ancient China hires a soldier to kill his cheating wife and her new man, a waiter, but the soldier has a plan of his own. Expect heaps of nonsensical humor and a line of A-listers in the cast, including comedian Xiao Shenyang, Zhao Benshan and actor Sun Honglei. Mandarin only.
• Storm Warriors (风云Ⅱ): Storm Warriors is a Hong Kong martial arts/wuxia film, produced and directed by the Pang brothers. It is the second live-action film adaptation of screenwriter Ma Wing-Shing's manhua Fung Wan, following the 1998 film The Storm Riders. Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok respectively reprise their roles as Wind and Cloud, who this time find themselves up against Lord Godless (Simon Yam), a ruthless Japanese warlord bent on invading China.The film is the first Chinese language film to be shot in bluescreen.
• Mulan (花木兰): Mulan, the old Chinese tale that was made into a Disney movie in 1998, is finally finding its way back home to its original country. When the country is threatened by invaders, a young girl defends her father by sneaking away from home and dressing up as a man to join an all-male army where she eventually assumes a historically critical role in defending the nation in a time of war.
• Visitors From The Sui Dynasty (隋朝来客): When the dissolute last emperor of the Sui Dynasty tries to hold an empire-wide beauty contest, a corrupt official takes advantage of the opportunity to divert money into his own coffers and steals the winner of the contest, Yingying, for himself. Yingying’s admirer, both caught up in the plot, flee for their lives, but fall into an ice cave and are quick-frozen — until a thousand years later, when the ice melts and the two men awake to find themselves in 21st-Century Beijing...