Kurdwin Ayyub Interview at Locarno Film Festival 2024: Mond, Moon

Writer and Director Kurdwin Ayub Born in Iraq, but her family came to Austria as refugees when she was a baby, she is now 34 and has made a name for herself in the film industry as a director.

Her 2016 documentary Heaven! Heaven!She wrote, directed and photographed !, which won the Diagonale Austrian Film Festival Best Cinematography Award. The film tells the story of Omar, the father of a family who has lived in Austria since 1991. Now, he plans to buy an apartment in Kurdistan as an investment. Hip replacementComments called the document “a fascinating intersection of domestic and geopolitical issues.”

Her short stories Boomerang It premiered at the Max Ophüls Prize at the Saarbrücken Film Festival in Germany in 2019, where it won the Jury Prize for Best Short Film. “Adnan wants nothing more than to attend his ex-wife’s housewarming party,” the synopsis explains. “Unfortunately, he’s not invited.”

Ayub’s debut novel Sone （sun) will premiere at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival in the Encounters section, which seeks to “cultivate aesthetically and structurally bold work by independent, innovative filmmakers”. The film focuses on three female friends who decide to shoot a burqa music video in a “normal moment of madness”. Ayyub eventually won Best Debut Awardculled from various parts of the festival.

On Sunday, she published her second novel Mond （moon) will be in the much-anticipated International Match Lineup Version 77 of Locarno Film FestivalLike her first feature film, the film was produced by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion, with Austrian director Ulrich Seidel and Veronica Franz Served as producer and associate producer respectively, as well as other members of the film team.

A plot description on Locarno’s website states: “Former martial artist Sara leaves Austria to train three sisters from a wealthy Jordanian family. What initially sounds like a dream job quickly becomes disturbing: These young women are isolated from the outside world and under constant surveillance. They seem to have no interest in the sport. So why was Sara hired?”

In a director’s note on the website, Eb explains: “This film is about sisters, no matter where they come from, and about cages, no matter where they are. There are cages you want to leave, and there are cages you wish you could go back into.”

Ayub Hip replacement About her new film, the importance of music, why she loves to stir up audiences and what’s next for her.

How excited are you to bring this product? Mond Attending a prestigious film festival like Locarno?

To be honest, there is pressure. Last week, I thought Sone It was such a huge success that it suddenly occurred to me that it was not normal to win such an important first film award at the Berlin Film Festival. When I realized this, I thought, “Oh my God, moon I have to succeed, too. ” But I have to deal with that pressure. I hope that one day, maybe a year from now, I can say: moon Very good, everything went well.

People often say that the second feature is difficult, right?

It’s like a horror movie. Everyone says the second one is the hardest because you have to prove that you are really a filmmaker. For the first film, maybe you are lucky. At the film festivals, they look for new people, they want to discover someone, but for the second film, they think twice.

Tell me where you did it Mond And how you cast your characters.

We did most of the filming in Jordan. The casting process was very difficult because we went there to cast different young women and girls. Every time we told them that we wanted them to be in the film, they ignored us. This happened a lot. So I found out that they just came for the casting and didn’t tell their parents. When we cast them, they started talking to their parents and asked if they could be in the film, but their parents didn’t allow it.

Is this because of this specific movie or movies in general?

No, that’s true of any movie. Acting for girls is not considered an honorable job for some people.

So how did you find these amazing actors?

I found them there. Andrea Tayyeh is a very famous Netflix star in Jordan. She is Rawabi Girls’ SchoolShe was also a very influential person. So when I walked on the street with her, everyone recognized her. So when we invited her, everyone wanted to be a part of it.

How did you choose Florentina Holzinger? I know she is well-known in the Austrian dance and performance world, while you work in the wider cultural field. Did you know each other before?

Yes, she is also Austrian, and I knew she practiced martial arts before. So when I wrote this story, I knew from the beginning that she would be the protagonist.

I felt like she brought a lot of depth to the character of Sarah….

Yes, she acted very well. She acted very naturally and well every time.

Why Jordan? Is there a true story from there or the surrounding area you would like to cite?

Jordan has stories too. I think the most famous story is about the king’s sister, who is Jordanian and married to the ruler of Dubai and then went to England. But there are a lot of stories going on, and if you are a wealthy family, it is very common to have a private trainer. We had a makeup artist on the crew who also spent a year in the Gulf. I also want to have a country that is really free and wealthy on the surface but still has these problems.

I noticed that some of your dialogue sparked debate. Some of the things people say in the film, like Sarah’s friends, are not politically correct. How important was it for you to have that poignancy in the dialogue?

Yeah, I wanted to show the scene where the white girl goes there, and I needed to have this realistic approach. It has to go through your body so you can feel it. They say what I tell them to say, but how they say it and everything is theirs. So it’s also improvisation, but I guide them and tell them, “You need to be more unconventional.” I mean, I tell them what I need from this scene and how it ends, and I guide them. The most important part, though, is the casting process. When I’m casting, I shoot different scenes and try everything out so that I can really make sure that they’re not only natural, but also smart and imaginative.

You obviously know the cultures you’re portraying very well. How much of your own experiences did you bring into the film?

I think some of these characters and parts of the film are my own in a way because I wrote them. The feelings of the Austrian character Sarah are sometimes my feelings. The feelings of the Jordanian girl in this particular family are sometimes my feelings. The sisters in this family and their characters were inspired by my cousins.

When did you move to Austria? How many times did you go back to Iraq to visit your family?

I was a baby when I came here, but I go to Iraq often. Sometimes I feel like a stranger when I go there, like Sarah does. So I’m in between these cultures. I’m both and I’m neither. I don’t think about identity or borders or countries anymore.

What was your idea for the film’s ending? How did you decide whether to go with a definitive or open ending? (The next answer contains spoilers for the ending.)

I wanted to leave it as it is, because that’s the reality. If you only get a glimpse of what you see or what you think you see, you can never really find out. I wanted to show that. And Sarah was the perfect identification person for my culturally white audience. I realized that a lot of privileged white people go to see my arthouse films, so I thought I needed Sarah to guide them. I wanted to have a white savior story, but tell it in a very realistic way that said to the audience, “It’s not easy to help — do you still want to do it?”

Kurdwin Ayub

Also, the other side of this cliché and stereotype is the refugees who come here and think they can be helped. That was my main goal: to tell this story to show this stereotype and show both sides. It’s not like in the movies.

So what topic do you want to explore? Mond yes…

Like I said, it’s a realistic film about white saviors. It has violence and it has cages. Sarah is a cage fighter. And the girls are caged in wealth.

I want to ask you how you choose music. Mond also…

Music has always been very important to me. Especially for this film, every piece of music for every scene was chosen by me for that scene. The music should add a special feeling to the scene that goes with what is happening. The last song is Sexual abuse Rihanna. I think I chose this song because Sarah chooses violence in her work, but in reality she avoids it. So I wanted to show different types of violence and how the characters struggle with it, support it or oppose it.

You’re done Sone （sun) and Mond （moon) Should we look forward to the finale of the trilogy? Stern （star) Or what are your next plans?

I already have this story. I’m writing it. We’re hoping to shoot it again in Jordan, maybe in 2026. I don’t know, maybe the whole planetary system. I don’t want it to end. I’m thinking it shouldn’t end with star. Maybe more. Maybe Mars.

Is there anything you can share about the next story?

It’s very similar. It’s both about escaping, but the plot is different.

Your film style is very ironic and provocative. Where does this style come from?

I’ve become very cynical in my life. I think movies in general have become really good lately. They’re trying to please everybody. I don’t like that.

I want to touch people. Because everyone is afraid of being touched. But I’ve been in a lot of therapy in my life, and I’ve found that you have to know why you’re touched by something. You have to think about it, you have to experience it, you have to learn. If you watch art or a movie or read a book, you feel after the experience, you see yourself and think about yourself. It’s great.

“I hope that people will argue with each other and discuss things after watching the movie and think about how they would react in these situations because it’s an important subject. This is not a love story or a comedy. There are big things happening there, so this movie should live up to that.”

I have a very dark sense of humor. I also love horror movies. I was a baby when we fled Iraq during the Gulf War. But I think when you survive war or go through the trauma of war, you have this very cynical sense of humor.

Your films present a strong female perspective. Do you consider yourself a feminist?

I think every woman is a feminist, right? I don’t know. I consider myself an artist first, but directing and writing these kinds of subjects comes naturally to me because I also fight for family rights. It’s important for everyone to see this movie, and it was important for my family as well.

Is there anything else you would like to highlight?

I want to emphasize that these characters in the film are special, and of course, I show specific issues. But in the end, no matter where you live, you have to face sexism or be locked up in cages. It doesn’t matter if it’s Baghdad, Amman, Vienna or any other city. It doesn’t matter where you live or where you’re from. But the film is set there because I also wanted to stir up emotions, to show something and give people something to say.