10.11.2022, 20:00, Kino Cameo
EN UT + Q&A
12.11.2022, 16:00, Maxx 3
EN UT
Kurdwin Ayub’s work explores gender roles, identity and migration, patriarchal structures, youth culture, and the fast pace of our time – always in an authentic and personal manner. Both playful and analytical, Ayub and her films resist pigeonholing. This selection of her shorts traces her evolution into one of Austrian cinema’s most interesting voices.
Family Holiday
Kurdwin Ayub / Austria 2012 / 22'23" / DCP / colour / German / Doc
The first shot is a classic: the view through a car window to a petrol station in the desert. In 17 scenes, Kurdwin Ayub captures impressions of her holiday with relatives in Iraq. The father, who sings in front of the camera or enthusiastically gives an account of the country's development; the sisters, who spend their time on their exercise bike; the close-up of a cockroach. These home video episodes offer insight into the filmmaker's family with an impressive sense of dramaturgy, while at the same time depicting her battle against the usual tedium of holidays.
Like Lucifer
Kurdwin Ayub / Austria 2019 / 4'31" / DCP / colour / no dialogue / Clip
Filmmaker Kurdwin Ayub dances through Vienna on her own to the sounds of Go! Go! Gorillo and explores places of public life in her black chador. She meets amused groups of men and apathetic passers-by. Nothing throws her off balance or makes her lose the beat. The highlight at the end is a wonderful Andrzej Żuławski quote in an underground station!
LOLOLOL
Kurdwin Ayub / Austria 2020 / 20'58" / DCP / colour / German / Doc/Fic
Ti(c)k-To(c)k goes the movement. The mobile phone – including the one that cinematographer Caroline Bobek uses to film – doesn’t care much about antiquated conformities. This also applies to the language spoken by the people interacting in Kurdwin Ayub’s «LOLOLOL», which their parents – the «OK Boomer» generation – have little or no access to, because they’re more concerned with grammar than with the contexts of their children’s lives.
pretty-pretty
Kurdwin Ayub / Austria 2019 / 1'15" / DCP / colour / English / Clip
In «pretty-pretty», Kurdwin Ayub’s self-staging meets Viennese Actionism, body horror coalesces with beauty, and the pain that Ayub has often before staged becomes physical for the first time. As she applies a fine needle, making viewers’ nerves twitch, a bloody, radiant smile spreads across her face.
Armageddon
Kurdwin Ayub / Austria 2018 / 4'27" / DCP / colour / German / Ani
Anton and Franz haven been living together since they were bitten and turned into vampires in 1938. They talk about the difficulty of living as vampires. Their arguments recall those of normal human beings. And history repeats itself. As if that were not enough, they also don't really like each other very much.
Adele 1
Kurdwin Ayub / Austria 2011 / 5'13" / DCP / colour / English / Exp
A young woman sings Adele’s song «Someone Like You». It’s appropriate, she thinks timidly, because she knows what this feels like. Sitting in her living room in front of the computer, her gestures resemble the average YouTube video. In sync with the lyrics, she fights back the tears and finally interrupts her performance, leaving us with a feeling of mockery and a notion of the dissolution of privacy.
Boomerang
Kurdwin Ayub / Austria 2018 / 21' / DCP / colour / German / Fic
A Mercedes is parked outside a house, apparently waiting, but the motor is not running. A girl walks by, approaches the door to the house. The driver leans out of the window, he wants to go up with her. «Go away, Dad, you're embarrassing», says the girl. «I love you», answers the father. But Dana is undeterred. She is on the way to her mother´s housewarming party. The mother has just moved into her own apartment after the divorce.
Summer Holiday (Vaginale VII)
Kurdwin Ayub / Austria 2011 / 3'36" / DCP / colour / no dialogue / Exp
A long curtain moves in the wind, a door, a simple bed, and a dainty performer in an oriental wedding dress that is much too large. Left alone in a room that resembles a hotel room, she crazily sings and dances her heart out. In reality, she is at the house of relatives in Iraq, where the artist was stuck for three weeks. Just as disproportionate as the sprawling wedding dress is Lorraine Ellison´s voluminous, deep voice, creating an ironic contrast with Kurdwin Ayub´s fragile, girlish body.