Ce site utilise des cookies pour l'analyse anonyme des visiteurs et pour désactiver ce message dès son acceptation. Aucune donnée personnelle ou d'identification n'est collectée.
Kurdwin Ayub is one of Austrian cinema’s most interesting voices. Her distinct cinematic style has been recognizable from her earliest works through her most recent work, «Sonne». A movie about youth between social media and self-discovery, and a story of rebels.
Three teenage girls from Vienna twerk in hijab and sing a pop song. A YouTube video of it makes them famous overnight, especially among Kurdish Muslims. Yesmin, the only one of the friends who is Kurdish herself, begins to distance herself more and more from her culture. Nati and Bella, on the other hand, seem fascinated by a world that is strange to them. When the girls meet two young Kurdish patriots, the situation is in danger of escalating. A film about young people caught between social media and self-discovery, a story of rebellious young women.
Born in Iraq in 1990, Kurdwin Ayub grew up in Vienna. In her work, she addresses gender roles, identity, patriarchal structures, youth culture, and the fast pace of our time. She began filming at a young age, after convincing her father to buy her a video camera, and she hasn’t stopped since. From 2008 to 2013, she studied fine art and experimental animation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna as well as performance art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She launched her festival career at age 20, and only two years later, Viennale dedicated a programme to her.
Ayub’s filmography of the past 12 years is impressive, showing her evolution into one of Austrian cinema’s most exciting voices. Her distinct cinematic style is recognizable from her earliest works to her most recent film, «Sonne». In addition to exploring her central themes, she often plays with audience expectations, blurring the boundaries between authenticity, performance, and DIY culture.
As a child of immigrants, Ayub has always lived in two worlds: in the Iraqi culture she knows from home and from family trips to Iraqi Kurdistan, and in the Austrian world, where she grew up as a digital native with emo, anime, and indie music. A life between different cultures, structures, dynamics, and expectations is the norm for children of migrants. Ayub doesn’t need to research or imagine this experience to empathize with it – she knows it first-hand. While migration and integration are often idealized or didactically presented in films, Ayub shows us that the situation is often multi-layered – sometimes funny, sometimes stupid, challenging yet rewarding, but never one-dimensional.
Ayub’s early performative works are shaped by her personal perspective as a young woman. She questions gender clichés. How do women represent themselves? What is expected of them? What role do social media play? She likes to play with the aesthetics of self-made YouTube videos. Viewers who don’t know that the filmmaker herself is the performer might think that she found the videos on the internet. She explores the phenomenon of self-portrayal among young adults, yet her main concern is to explore who she doesn’t want to be.
Young people also play an important role in her films, which seem to give them room for being themselves and contributing their own ideas. The characters, mostly played by non-professional actors, seem naïve sometimes, unbalanced, and raw, which lends them authenticity. Ayub thus avoids a purely voyeuristic gaze and the nostalgic veneer of an outside view, seeing eye to eye with her protagonists. As she says about herself: «Knowing how to work with non-professional actors is something I consider one of my talents.»
Kurdwin Ayub’s films – whether performance, music clip, trailer, documentary, or fiction – are playful as well as analytical. They resist pigeonholing, which is what makes her an exciting and unconventional filmmaker. We are looking forward to her films and to lively conversations.
Curated by John Canciani
Kurdwin Ayub – Sonne
Kurdwin Ayub is one of Austrian cinema’s most interesting voices. Her distinct cinematic style has been recognizable from her earliest works through her most recent work, «Sonne». A movie about youth between social media and self-discovery, and a story of rebels.
Les Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur représentent le plus important festival de courts métrages en Suisse. Chaque mois de novembre, Winterthour se transforme en métropole du court métrage pendant six jours.
Des courts métrages actuels du monde entier. Les œuvres les plus prometteuses seront récompensées le dimanche soir.
Hors Concours
Des courts métrages actuels zurichois, suisses et internationaux diffusés en dehors de nos compétitions.
Focus
Une analyse en images d’une région, d’un phénomène social ou d’une tendance artistique.
Focus sur une personne
L’œuvre d’un·e cinéaste est mise sur le devant de la scène.
Programmes spéciaux
Des programmes de courts métrages sur des thématiques brûlantes, ou simplement divertissantes.
Programmes familiaux
Des courts métrages pour les jeunes dès 6 ans et toute la famille.
Expanded Cinema
Des installations, des performances et des expositions qui font découvrir au public des formes de cinéma inhabituelles.
Programme d’événements
Des concerts, des soirées, des lectures et de nombreux autres événements qui complètent l’expérience du festival.
Discussions et podiums
Des discussions et des tables rondes animées durant lesquelles l'art du cinéma ou des thématiques précises sont approfondis.
Industry Events
Un large éventail d’événements d’information, de formation et de réseautage.
Le court métrage
Le court métrage n’est pas juste un film «court». C’est une forme d’art à part entière à laquelle nous consacrons chaque année un festival.
Il existe des courts métrages de tous genres et de toutes longueurs. Grâce à des voies de production facilitées, il permet de capter rapidement une époque et de l’illustrer. Il divertit, surprend, analyse lasociété, exprime une opinion politique ou donne un aperçu de mondes étrangers.
Nous rassemblons nos courts métrages pour créer des programmes thématiques ou des sections – comme nos compétitions – et nous les projetons dans un ordre bien précis. Pour apprécier le court métrage, il suffit d’être curieux, d’avoir envie de faire des découvertes et de se laisser surprendre.