SONNE
Kurdish, German O.V. subtitled in Spanish
At the age of 20, Iraqi-Austrian Kurdwin Ayub shook the art world with her faux youtuber pieces, pure teenage angst satirized with Miley Cyrus in the background. Ten years later (followed by a SEFF New Wave Non-Fiction Award for his documentary Paradise! Paradise!), Ulrich Seidl produces this film, in which Yesmin, an Austrian teenager of Kurdish origin, and her two friends, stir up the networks by singing R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" while wearing a hijab and dancing. From here on, fame will take Yesmin's identity and beliefs down unexpected paths: booze, vulnerability and rebellion collide in a film of awakening both entertaining and lucid, awarded the prize for best debut film at the Berlinale.
Direction: Kurdwin Ayub
Script: Kurdwin Ayub
Cinematography: Enzo Brandner
Editing: Roland Stöttinger
Sound: David Almeida-Ribeiro
Cast: Melina Benli, Law Wallner, Maya Wopienka
Production: Ulrich Seidl
Production Company: Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion GmbH
Distributor: Filmin
International sales: Cercamon
The Iraqi Kurdwin Ayub (1990) studied at both the School of Applied Arts and the University of Fine Arts of Vienna between 2008 and 2013, with the purpose of focusing her career on directing, writing and independent artistic performances. Her audiovisual work hit the 2012 Viennale, as well as the BAIFIC in Buenos Aires and the Seville Festival in 2016. Her debut film Paradise Paradise! (2016) was a long documentary that was widely awarded by the Austrian festival Diagonale, the Duisburger Filmwoche and the New Waves No Fiction of the Seville Festival. After making a way into fiction with the short film Boomerang in 2019, Kurdwin introduces us to her latest film, Sonne.
