Iraq-Born Austrian Auteur Kurdwin Ayub Keeps It Provocative With Moon: I Want to Trigger People

Kurdwin Ayub is a writer and a director and she was born in Iraq, but her parent fled to Austria with her when she was a baby. Now, she is 34 and has been already building her career as a director in the film industry as an auteur. 
 
Her 2016 feature documentary Paradise! Paradise! Her film that she also wrote, directed, and did the cinematography for was the winner in the best camera category in Diagonale – Festival of Austrian Film. It follows Omar, a head of a family who fled to Austria in 1991 from journeying in the Middle East. Now, he wants to purchase a flat in Kurdistan for investing the amount. THR‘s review described the doc as an ‘audience-sensitive amalgamation of the home front and geo-political conflict. ‘ 
 
Her fiction short Boomerang have been selected at the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis in Saarbrücken, Germany in 2019 and also have clinched the award for the jury’s choice for the best short. “Adnan’s getting fixated with his ex-wife’s housewarming party”, says the plot summary of the episode. “Sadly, he does not. ” 
 
The first fictional feature that Ayub directed is Sonne, which, known as Sun, officially premiered at the Berlinale 2022 in the Encounters section of the festival, which is aimed at “supporting formally and conceptually innovative works by independent filmmakers. ” The film tells the story of three girlfriends who decide to shoot a burqa music video “in a moment of petty insanity. ” The best first film award was received by Ayub 
 
This Sunday, her second fiction feature, Mond (Moon), is set to premiere in the International Competition of the 77th Locarno Film Festival. Similar to her first fiction feature, it was made by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion, Ulrich Seidel as producer, and the feature’s producer and Veronika Franz as associate producer among other talents in the film. 
 
‘Ex-martial arts fighter Sarah gets pregnant and moves away from Austria to teach three sisters from an affluent Jordanian family, ‘ according to plot on the Locarno website. “What initially sounds like a dream job soon becomes unsettling: the young women are imprisoned and spied on The sport does not seem to matter to them So why has Sarah been employed? 
 
In a director’s note on the website, Aybu explains: “It is all about sisters, any kind of sisters and cages whatever their location may be – cages one longs to escape and those which one would like to be put back into. ” 
 
Here is the conversation Ayub had with THR about her new film, the role of music, why she enjoys giving her audience something to think about, and her next project. 
 
You created a touching and wonderful film that deserves to be showcased in festivals like Locarno and how does it feel to bring Mond to such a festival? 
 
To be as truthful as one can be, it is kind of have some pressure there. Last week I was thinking how can Sonne have so much success to be getting such a big first film award at the Berlinale. When I realized it, I thought: “Oh my god, Moon has to also be successful. ” But I have to handle such pressure. And I wish I can one day, maybe in a year, say: Moon was good and every thing was alright. 
 
As they say second features are tough, are they not? 
 
That is like a horror movie. Everyone says the second one is the hardest because now you have to affirm or negative whether or not you’re a filmmaker. Perhaps with the first film maybe you got lucky or something like that. When they decide to cast a newcomer, at film festivals, they look and they want to discover someone, but when they want to commission his second film, they look and they think twice. 
 
Can you describe how you developed Mond and how the casting of the film was done? 
 
We shot it primarily in Jordan. The casting process was a real problem because we arrived and we wanted to shoot different girls and youngsters. And every time when they tried to seduce us and when we said that we wanted them for the film, they vanished. It happened a lot. Thus I learned that they only came for casting and did not inform their parents about it. When we selected them, they went to their parents to seek permission to participate in a movie; nonetheless, they were not allowed to. 
 
Were they impressed because of this particular movie or they are impressed with most of the movies they watch? 
 
No, it’s any movie. For some acting for girls is not a honorable work. 
 
So how did you proceed to get your wonderful cast members? 
 
I found them there. Andria Tayeh is one of the most popular stars in Netflix hailing from the country of Jordan. AlRawabi School for Girls was one of these productions; in it she was the leading lady. The third aspect that should not go without mention is that she is also very big influencer. So then when I go out to the street with her people can easily identify her as a female and possibly Nigerian. Thus, when we obtained her, everyone wished to be included in it. 
 
They talked about how they had cast Florentina Holzinger and other urgent issues of the film. I am sure that she is active on the scene of dances and performances in Austria, and you operate in the larger cultural field. Were you intimate prior to the start of the show? 
 
Indeed, she is also an Austrian girl and I understood that she was engaged in martial arts earlier. Thus, whenever the story was being compiled, it was clear to me that she would play the lead role. 
 
Each time I see her, feel that she adds something special to the image of the women, to the heroine, of Sarah. 
 
Yes, she’s very good. In every take, she was very natural and great, She was very quick in picking up the information and doing the right things. 
 
Why did you decide to produce this film in Jordan? Were there any other realistic events that occurred in the place or in general that you would love to depict? 
 
This situation is also complemented by stories of narratives in Jordan. I believe the most popular one relates to the sister of the king who is Jordanian married to the ruler of Dubai and went to England. But of course a lot of stories are going on and it is not a strange thing to take personal trainers if you are from the family with lots of wealth. There was a female makeup artist in our team, she also worked for one year in the gulf. I also desired one that was quite liberal on the surface and also quite affluent but still experience such problems.

I could see some of your dialogue being the cause of some heated arguments. Regarding the issue of politically incorrect language and messages, it is essential to note that some of the things people, including Sarah’s friends, say in the movie are vulgar. How crucial is it for you that there is such bite in the dialogues? 
 
Yes, I wanted to make the white chick go over there and, for that, I had to have this kind of realistic strategy. For you to feel it it has to flow through your body. What they say is what I told it to them to say, but how they say it and everything is them. But on the same note, it is also improvisation, only that I lead them and explain to them that they have to goof up more, or something like that I direct them and explain to them what I require of such a scene and how it will conclude. However, the largest portion is the casting procedure, anyway. When I cast people, I do different scenes and a lot of attempts, so at least I’m sure that they are not only natural and sincere but also rather smart and creative. 
 
You seem to have proper historical understanding and/or personal familiarity with the culture you are describing. How much of yourself do you put into your films? 
 
I suppose that somewhere, somehow, parts of the characters and the movies are me, because I wrote them. And so to be like Sarah experiencing what she feels sometimes in Austria, I also get to feel that way. And how the girls in Jordan in this special family felt, I also sometimes feel myself. The sisters in this family and their characters are living persons and all the events described here are true but the names have been changed to protect the genuine identity of those persons and of course the original characters depicted in those persons are my cousins. 
 
When did you immigre to Austria and how frequent did you go visit famoly back in Iraq? 
 
I was born here but I used to go to Iraq many a time. I know how the Sarah figure feels when she is abroad; At times, I feel like a stranger when I am in Iraq. Therefore, I find myself right in the middle of these cultures. I have both of them and at the same time I don’t have any of them. To be an artist I don’t think in identities or borders or countries anymore. 
 
As for the plot’s conclusion, the following question can also be presented: What was your train of thought when developing the plot’s finale? Did you select a clear-cut or open ending for a reason? [The next answer is read at your own risk; it includes the spoilers about the ending. ] 
 
I intended to leave it like this because in the real world it would be like this. If you have the slightest exposure to what you watch or what you imagine you are watching and shall not know. I needed to prove that. And Sarah is the perfect identification person for my culturally white audience in a sense of belonging to the Scriptwriter community and a middle-age Caucasian woman. I suddenly felt that a lot of privileged white people come watch my indie movies, so I needed Sarah to lead them. And I wanted to have a white savior story but tell it in a very realistic way to tell the audience: “This is not convenient — do you still want to?” 
 
Kurdwin Ayub 
 
At the same time, the outer side of this cliche and stereotype is the refugees who come here and believe that there is assistance for them. That was my main goal: telling the story in order to depict this stereotype and give the view point of both sides. There is nothing like in the movies here. 
 
So the themes I have decided to focus on in Mond are… 
 
Like I said earlier, it is about the realism regarding the concept of the white savior. It is about violence and, of course, cages. A cage fighter is a cage in which Sarah operates. And the girls are in a cage of wealth All the splendor is prisoner of the circular movement that the stage represents. 
 
May I ask you more about choices of the songs? Though; we did say that music does play a part in Mond… 
 
The music is always so meaningful to me and especially so for this movie; there are pieces of music for each scene in the movie. The music should provide an extraordinary feeling throughout the scene, which corresponds with events happening around. The last is s&m by Rihanna. I suppose that I selected this song because Sarah chose violence in her art but she is afraid of it in real life. That is why I have sought to present the various forms of violence and the characters’ struggle with it, in support or in opposition. 
 
You have accomplished Sonne (Sun) and Mond (Moon). Is there another trilogy ending with Sterne (Stars) or Do you have plans for what’s next? 
 
The story is already with me and, therefore, it can be concluded that in relation to this particular literary work there exists more cognition than merely a mere essence of an understanding. I’m writing it. It is to be hopefully shot again in Jordan, potentially in 2026. And I do not know, maybe it is the whole planetary system. I guess I do not want to let it go. Having thought about it I did not thing it should end with Stars. Maybe it’s more. Maybe it’s Mars. 
 
Would you like to tell something about the next story? 
 
It’s similar. It is the same message but with the escaping part and another constellation. 
 
Basically, your cinematic voice is quite sarcastic and provocative. What are the origins of that? 
 
Well at some point in my life I grew to be very cynical. I agree to the fact that cinema has been getting very decent, or rather good in the most general sense of the word, as of late. They attempt to be alright with every person. And that I don’t like. 
 
I simply want to make people think. Because everyone is afraid to switch on the harm reflexes. However, I receive a plenty of therapy during my life, and I learned that it is necessary to understand why someone or something makes you angry. And sometimes you must ponder it, and at other times you must experience it, and in yet other cases you must study it. And if you view art or go to the movies or read, you sense something or remember something after, you begin to imagine yourself. That’s great. 
 
Everyone after a movie should be able to sit down and come up with something to argue about or as I prefer discussing matters and reflecting on the kind of way we would have responded to the situations because it is an important subject. Unlike love stories and comedy, the movie does not boast of having an impressive cast. That is where big things happen, so does the film.