Welcome, Brendan!
If you use vines, be sure to put up trellises--clinging vines are almost impossible to manage in pots. Also be sure to use big pots. Vines will only get 3 times as wide and tall as the pot they are growing in. I.e., to get 2 meters of coverage, use a pot at least 70 cm tall and wide. Columnar, upright "poodle", or "patio tree" topiary is another possibility, but they can only be 4 times as high as the height and width if the pot. With the topiary, be sure you can rotate the pot 1/4 turn every week, to keep the back side from going bald from too much shade. I'm not sure what the best plants for your area would be,but lots of others on this forum will know!

I'm interested in the kind of shade you mean, whether it's blocked from sunlight by buildings either close by or further away, or whether its shaded by trees, etc. this makes a difference to your choice of plants.