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A film by Kurdwin Ayub. In German, Arabic and English with German subtitles.

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

Kurdwin Ayub elec­trified with her wide­ly-lau­ded fea­ture debut SONNE (2022), depic­ting a Muslim girl’s expe­ri­en­ces gro­wing up in Vienna. She flips the per­spec­ti­ve in MOND, fol­lo­wing an Austrian woman on a work trip to Jordan. In an inspi­red cas­ting choice, cho­reo­grapher and per­for­mance artist Florentina Holzinger plays Sarah, a reti­red mixed mar­ti­al arts figh­ter hired as a per­so­nal trai­ner by a wealt­hy fami­ly in Amman. What initi­al­ly appears like a dream job—swanky hotel, pri­va­te driver—quickly turns troubling. The teenage sis­ters she is sup­po­sed to train show no inte­rest in the sport. Their pala­ti­al home is always deser­ted, apart from the clea­ning staff and seve­ral body­guards, who pat­rol the house as if it were a pri­son. The girls aren’t allo­wed to access the WiFi net­work and seem shut off from the out­side world. When Sarah enqui­res about the iden­ti­ty of her employ­ers at the hotel bar and men­ti­ons their fami­ly name, the pre­vious­ly fri­end­ly bar­man abrupt­ly ends the con­ver­sa­ti­on. While kee­ping the sto­ry in a rea­list regis­ter, Ayub bor­rows tro­pes from the thril­ler and hor­ror gen­res to gene­ra­te moun­ting sus­pen­se and upend the arche­ty­pe of the white saviour, thus for­cing view­ers to con­front their own pre­con­cep­ti­ons. (Giovanni Marchini Camia)

Credits:

AU 2024, 93 Min, deutsch/arabisch/englische OmU
Regie: Kurdwin Ayub
Kamera: Klemens Hufnagl,
Schnitt: Roland Stöttinger,
mit: Florentina Holzinger, Andria Tayeh, Celina Antwan, Nagham Abu Baker, u.a.

Trailer:

nach oben

A film by Federico Luis. Im Spanish with German subtitles.

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

The film is far from a straight­for­ward por­tra­y­al of its sub­ject. It doesn’t just focus on good and noble fee­lings, nor does it fall into the sort of sim­pli­stic bina­ries that set the “puri­ty” of peo­p­le with disa­bi­li­ties against the cyni­cism of socie­ty. Simón is deceitful, more than hap­py to lie and una­fraid to get his fri­ends into trou­ble, yet they never judge or punish him nor label him as pro­ble­ma­tic. At home, whe­re his mother’s good­will has been exhaus­ted, a sen­se of apa­thy has set in that threa­tens to usurp the obvious love she feels for him. Luis’ film smart­ly refrains from jud­ging her, as she seems unable to find a solu­ti­on to her son’s unex­plai­ned anti­cs; she only wat­ches in sur­pri­se as Simón speaks less and less, imi­ta­tes phy­si­cal tics and retre­ats into his own per­so­nal ver­si­on of disa­bi­li­ty. Engrossing, and nar­ra­ted with gre­at intel­li­gence and subt­le­ty, the film lay­ers nuan­ce upon nuan­ce in its sui­ta­b­ly ambi­va­lent por­trait of the titu­lar cha­rac­ter. With ano­ther enig­ma­tic, yet empa­the­tic per­for­mance by up-and-coming actor Lorenzo Ferro, SIMÓN DE LA MONTAÑA is a remar­kab­le debut fea­ture that dares to explo­re the mur­ky waters of human beha­viour. (Diego Lerer)

Credits:

Argentinien, Uruguay, Chile 2024, 97 Min., span. OmU
Regie: Federico Luis
Kamera: Marcos Hastrup
Schnitt: Tomás Murphy, Andrés Medina
mit: Lorenzo Ferro, Pehuén Pedre, Kiara Supini, Laura Nevole, Agustín Toscano, Camila Hirane

Trailer:

Simón de la Montana ab 27.03.25 im Kino

nach oben

A film by Kurdwin Ayub. In German, Arabic and English with German subtitles.

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

Kurdwin Ayub elec­trified with her wide­ly-lau­ded fea­ture debut SONNE (2022), depic­ting a Muslim girl’s expe­ri­en­ces gro­wing up in Vienna. She flips the per­spec­ti­ve in MOND, fol­lo­wing an Austrian woman on a work trip to Jordan. In an inspi­red cas­ting choice, cho­reo­grapher and per­for­mance artist Florentina Holzinger plays Sarah, a reti­red mixed mar­ti­al arts figh­ter hired as a per­so­nal trai­ner by a wealt­hy fami­ly in Amman. What initi­al­ly appears like a dream job—swanky hotel, pri­va­te driver—quickly turns troubling. The teenage sis­ters she is sup­po­sed to train show no inte­rest in the sport. Their pala­ti­al home is always deser­ted, apart from the clea­ning staff and seve­ral body­guards, who pat­rol the house as if it were a pri­son. The girls aren’t allo­wed to access the WiFi net­work and seem shut off from the out­side world. When Sarah enqui­res about the iden­ti­ty of her employ­ers at the hotel bar and men­ti­ons their fami­ly name, the pre­vious­ly fri­end­ly bar­man abrupt­ly ends the con­ver­sa­ti­on. While kee­ping the sto­ry in a rea­list regis­ter, Ayub bor­rows tro­pes from the thril­ler and hor­ror gen­res to gene­ra­te moun­ting sus­pen­se and upend the arche­ty­pe of the white saviour, thus for­cing view­ers to con­front their own pre­con­cep­ti­ons. (Giovanni Marchini Camia)

Credits:

AU 2024, 93 Min, deutsch/arabisch/englische OmU
Regie: Kurdwin Ayub
Kamera: Klemens Hufnagl,
Schnitt: Roland Stöttinger,
mit: Florentina Holzinger, Andria Tayeh, Celina Antwan, Nagham Abu Baker, u.a.

Trailer:

nach oben

A film by Federico Luis. Im Spanish with German subtitles.

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

The film is far from a straight­for­ward por­tra­y­al of its sub­ject. It doesn’t just focus on good and noble fee­lings, nor does it fall into the sort of sim­pli­stic bina­ries that set the “puri­ty” of peo­p­le with disa­bi­li­ties against the cyni­cism of socie­ty. Simón is deceitful, more than hap­py to lie and una­fraid to get his fri­ends into trou­ble, yet they never judge or punish him nor label him as pro­ble­ma­tic. At home, whe­re his mother’s good­will has been exhaus­ted, a sen­se of apa­thy has set in that threa­tens to usurp the obvious love she feels for him. Luis’ film smart­ly refrains from jud­ging her, as she seems unable to find a solu­ti­on to her son’s unex­plai­ned anti­cs; she only wat­ches in sur­pri­se as Simón speaks less and less, imi­ta­tes phy­si­cal tics and retre­ats into his own per­so­nal ver­si­on of disa­bi­li­ty. Engrossing, and nar­ra­ted with gre­at intel­li­gence and subt­le­ty, the film lay­ers nuan­ce upon nuan­ce in its sui­ta­b­ly ambi­va­lent por­trait of the titu­lar cha­rac­ter. With ano­ther enig­ma­tic, yet empa­the­tic per­for­mance by up-and-coming actor Lorenzo Ferro, SIMÓN DE LA MONTAÑA is a remar­kab­le debut fea­ture that dares to explo­re the mur­ky waters of human beha­viour. (Diego Lerer)

Credits:

Argentinien, Uruguay, Chile 2024, 97 Min., span. OmU
Regie: Federico Luis
Kamera: Marcos Hastrup
Schnitt: Tomás Murphy, Andrés Medina
mit: Lorenzo Ferro, Pehuén Pedre, Kiara Supini, Laura Nevole, Agustín Toscano, Camila Hirane

Trailer:

Simón de la Montana ab 27.03.25 im Kino

nach oben

A film by Kurdwin Ayub. In German, Arabic and English with German subtitles.

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

Kurdwin Ayub elec­trified with her wide­ly-lau­ded fea­ture debut SONNE (2022), depic­ting a Muslim girl’s expe­ri­en­ces gro­wing up in Vienna. She flips the per­spec­ti­ve in MOND, fol­lo­wing an Austrian woman on a work trip to Jordan. In an inspi­red cas­ting choice, cho­reo­grapher and per­for­mance artist Florentina Holzinger plays Sarah, a reti­red mixed mar­ti­al arts figh­ter hired as a per­so­nal trai­ner by a wealt­hy fami­ly in Amman. What initi­al­ly appears like a dream job—swanky hotel, pri­va­te driver—quickly turns troubling. The teenage sis­ters she is sup­po­sed to train show no inte­rest in the sport. Their pala­ti­al home is always deser­ted, apart from the clea­ning staff and seve­ral body­guards, who pat­rol the house as if it were a pri­son. The girls aren’t allo­wed to access the WiFi net­work and seem shut off from the out­side world. When Sarah enqui­res about the iden­ti­ty of her employ­ers at the hotel bar and men­ti­ons their fami­ly name, the pre­vious­ly fri­end­ly bar­man abrupt­ly ends the con­ver­sa­ti­on. While kee­ping the sto­ry in a rea­list regis­ter, Ayub bor­rows tro­pes from the thril­ler and hor­ror gen­res to gene­ra­te moun­ting sus­pen­se and upend the arche­ty­pe of the white saviour, thus for­cing view­ers to con­front their own pre­con­cep­ti­ons. (Giovanni Marchini Camia)

Credits:

AU 2024, 93 Min, deutsch/arabisch/englische OmU
Regie: Kurdwin Ayub
Kamera: Klemens Hufnagl,
Schnitt: Roland Stöttinger,
mit: Florentina Holzinger, Andria Tayeh, Celina Antwan, Nagham Abu Baker, u.a.

Trailer:

nach oben

A film by Gints Zilbalodis. Without dialogues.

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

The world seems to be coming to an end, tee­ming with the ves­ti­ges of a human pre­sence. Cat is a soli­ta­ry ani­mal, but as its home is devas­ta­ted by a gre­at flood, he finds refu­ge on a boat popu­la­ted by various spe­ci­es, and will have to team up with them despi­te their dif­fe­ren­ces. In the lone­so­me boat sai­ling through mys­ti­cal over­flowed land­scapes, they navi­ga­te the chal­lenges and dan­gers of adap­ting to this new world.

Credits:

LV/FR/BE 2023, 84 Min., ohne Dialog
Regie: Gints Zilbalodis
Kamera: Léo Silly Pélissier
Schnitt: Gints Zilbalodis

Trailer:

FLOW l Kinotrailer

nach oben

A film by Tim Ellrich. In German.

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A the­ra­pist who­se inte­rests lie in alter­na­ti­ve ways to help the sick and infirm is forced to balan­ce the demands of her pro­fes­sio­nal life with tho­se of her age­ing par­ents and older brot­her, in Tim Ellrich’s sen­si­ti­ve but uncom­pro­mi­sing drama.

Holle works as a spi­ri­tu­al hea­ler, ten­ding to cli­ents with serious ill­nesses and chro­nic con­di­ti­ons. One of four siblings, she devo­tes much of her time to caring for her age­ing par­ents, a com­mit­ment that strains her rela­ti­onship with her part­ner. When her mother suf­fers a fall and is hos­pi­ta­li­sed, Holle faces moun­ting chal­lenges, par­ti­cu­lar­ly in rela­ti­on to her brot­her Sven, who has schi­zo­phre­nia and has lived a secluded life in their par­ents’ attic for years.

Inspired by film­ma­ker Tim Ellrich’s own fami­ly expe­ri­en­ces and shot on loca­ti­on at his child­hood home, Im Haus mei­ner Eltern is an incisi­ve explo­ra­ti­on of the toll care­gi­ving takes on fami­lies. Filmed in stark black and white, its visu­als cap­tu­re both the exhaus­ti­on of care­gi­ving and the claus­tro­pho­bia of lives bound by duty. Ellrich avo­ids easy judgments, ins­tead offe­ring a thoughtful reflec­tion on how socie­ty tre­ats the elder­ly and infirm and the fric­tion the­se respon­si­bi­li­ties crea­te within fami­lies – from tho­se who should­er the bur­den to tho­se who keep their distance. With empa­thy and an under­sta­ted approach, Im Haus mei­ner Eltern, exami­nes the uns­po­ken ten­si­ons and quiet sacri­fices that defi­ne fami­ly life under pressure.

Vanja Kaludjercic

Credits:

DE 2025, 95 Min,
Regie: Tim Ellrich
Kamera: Konstantin Pape
Schnitt: Tobias Wilhelmer
mit: Jenny Schily, Ursula Werner, Manfred Zapatka und Jens Brock 

Trailer:

Im Haus mei­ner Eltern – trai­ler | IFFR 2025

nach oben