It was almost midnight, the time when cinemas are usually ushering out the last audiences of the night. But at the Shanghai Film Art Center on Saturday, movie fans were still pouring in. Some held double-shot espressos, others had seat cushions and even neck pillows.

They were arriving for an all-night movie marathon, the first ever held as part of the annual Shanghai International Film Festival, or SIFF, now in its 27th year. Nearby, crowds were simultaneously forming at the city’s Grand Theatre on Nanjing Road for a similar event.

University student Liu Qin had traveled from Beijing to Shanghai by train specifically to enjoy back-to-back screenings of three movies — “Eraserhead,” “Lost Highway,” and “Mulholland Drive” — all made by her favorite director, the late American auteur David Lynch.

“I’m sure I’ll fall asleep,” the 19-year-old told Sixth Tone, using a pseudonym for privacy reasons, as she prepared to spend the next seven hours glued to the screen. “Maybe that means the films will have truly entered my mind ... and I have become part of their dreamlike quality.”

Liu had dressed for the occasion in a black slip dress and red scarf — and carried a homemade blonde wig that she wore only for photos — as a tribute to Rita, one of the central characters in “Mulholland Drive,” arguably Lynch’s best-known work.

In the lobby, another fan recognized her costume and asked for a photo. “I’m certain everyone here is a Lynch fan,” Liu said, visibly excited.

At another screen, cinephiles were lining up for another overnight experience: Claude Lanzmann’s nine-hour Holocaust documentary “Shoah,” which was to start at 11 p.m. The film made its debut at SIFF in 2013.

Meanwhile, the Grand Theatre was showing all four films in the Japanese animated series “Rebuild of Evangelion” back to back, running from 11:50 p.m. to 8:15 a.m., to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original “Neon Genesis Evangelion” TV show. Each movie was buffered by just a 15-minute break.

In total, the three sold-out events attracted an estimated 2,400 moviegoers.

Prep like a pro

At 10:25 p.m., 38-year-old Xu Yi slipped into the lobby of the Shanghai Film Art Center to buy an iced Americano from a mobile coffee cart. Of the 17 screenings he’d booked for this year’s festival, he was most excited about the Lynch triple feature.

A Shanghai resident since university, he’s attended over a dozen SIFFs. To make the most of the movie marathon, he booked a hotel nearby and took an afternoon nap. He’d also brought with him a liter of tea, energy drinks, mint gum, and sour candy.

At the Grand Theatre, “Evangelion” fans had also come prepared, with many in colorful wigs and character costumes, transforming the lobby into a mini anime convention.

Bobo, a 22-year-old student from neighboring Zhejiang province, was busy mingling with the crowds and handing out wuliao, a term meaning “freebies” in Chinese fan communities, particularly those involved in the anime, comics, and games — or ACG — culture. He’d created a certificate to “award” fans who completed the marathon screening.

He said the “Evangelion” film series, released between 2007 and 2021, resonated deeply with him, as it coincided with feelings of isolation during his teenage years.

“These four movies screened back to back made me confront my inner fragility — and then pieced it back together,” he told Sixth Tone, requesting use of a pseudonym. “It’s like reliving my entire adolescence in a single night.”

At 11:50 p.m., the first feature in the “Evangelion” series began playing to thunderous applause.

Selling out

The three overnight screenings were among the first SIFF shows to sell out this year. In terms of the demand for tickets, the Lynch retrospective ranked second only to Sunday’s screening of the “best director” feature in this year’s Golden Goblet awards. The prize, announced Saturday, went to Cao Baoping for his black comedy “One Wacky Summer.”

Movie theaters in the United States introduced “all-nighters” in the 1970s, with the trend eventually spreading to European markets. Today, the Prince Charles Cinema in London — a favorite among cinephiles — continues to host monthly marathons, with themes ranging from highbrow art films to B-movie absurdity.

Shanghai’s Grand Theatre experimented with the format in 1988, but it didn’t catch on. The city’s last notable movie marathon was in 2004, when Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy was shown back to back, lasting more than nine hours.

“For someone from out of town, it’s not easy to come to Shanghai just to watch movies,” said 27-year-old Chen, who had traveled from the eastern Anhui province. “But a midnight marathon lets me see three films in one go. And I don’t even need to take time off from work. I’m a Lynch fan, too, so isn’t this perfect?”

Chen, who only provided her surname for privacy reasons, was initially unable to secure a ticket because of the huge demand, so had to buy one from a scalper at a marked-up price.

“The fact that this screening sold out instantly gives us fresh ideas for next year’s programming,” Wang Jiayan, the festival’s 75-year-old scheduling director, was quoted as saying by Chinese media. “We might experiment with more formats — combining great films into themed marathons. An all-nighter is a big challenge, but I think young people can handle it.”

Dream scenario

The final break in the Lynch retrospective came at around 3 a.m. As a legion of moviegoers dashed to the restroom, others went to pick up their takeout deliveries of milk tea and fast food that had been dropped at the entrance, while some lazily bounced comfy slippers on their feet in anticipation of the opening credits of “Mulholland Drive.”

Occasional snores echoed through the theater. Liu and Chen stayed awake throughout, but Xu briefly dozed off during “Lost Highway,” just as one character entered a dream sequence. “It felt like having three dreams in a row,” he said.

At 5:50 a.m., their challenge was complete. Liu’s hair was a mess, but she had a beaming smile.

“Lynch’s films feel dreamlike. I felt like I was on his wavelength, then I stepped outside and saw the morning sky — it was surreal,” said Chen. “Watching movies in a theater is like studying in a library. It gives me space to focus and makes it feel ceremonial. I didn’t feel sleepy.”

At 8:15 a.m., as “Evangelion” fans emerged into the light after the final screening, they were met with applause from fellow fans who hadn’t managed to get tickets but had come out anyway just to cheer. Calls of “omedetou” — Japanese for “congratulations” — rang out around the main entrance, echoing the final line of the cult TV series.

And with that, it was all over. The audiences, having connected over a shared dream during a sleepless night, dispersed into the Shanghai morning.

Additional reporting: Wu Huiyuan; editor: Hao Qibao.

(Header image: Moviegoers head for the exit after an overnight movie marathon at Shanghai’s Grand Theatre, June 22, 2025. Wu Huiyuan/Sixth Tone)