When three girls don hijabs and sing their own version of the hit song “Losing my religion”, they become celebrities among the Kurdish community in Vienna. An engaging coming-of-age drama about what it’s like to be a girl growing up in a Muslim family, and also a universal tale of personal development in the face of other people’s views, expectations and conceptions.
Teenager Yesmin and her friends do what all girls their age do: they shoot video clips which they share on social media, they experiment with make-up and alcohol, and occasionally borrow something from their mum’s wardrobe. But when the girls put on hijabs and strut about singing “Losing my religion”, their video becomes a viral hit which starts to corrode their relations with family and friends. In her semiautobiographical story, the debuting director returns to familiar thorny ground – the nebulous identity of second generation immigrants, the double standards of Muslim households, and the complex process of becoming a woman amid stringent religious rules. To this familiar combination Kurdwin Ayub introduces an unusual visual form, a charismatic female lead, and disarming sincerity.
Šárka Jelínek Gmiterková
88 min / Color, DCP
Director Kurdwin Ayub
/ Screenplay Kurdwin Ayub
/ Dir. of Photography Enzo Brandner
/ Sound David Almeira Ribeiro
/ Editor Roland Stöttinger
/ Producer Ulrich Seidl, Veronika Franz, Georg Aschauer
/ Production Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion Gmbh
/ Cast Melina Benli, Law Wallner, Maya Wopienka
/ Sales Cercamon
Kurdwin Ayub (1990, Iraq). Selected filmography: Cat Heaven (Katzenhimmel, 2012), Family Holiday (2012), Sexy (2013, short), Paradise! Paradise! (2016, doc.), Boomerang (2018, short), Lololol (2020, doc.), Sonne (2022).
Cercamon
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United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971 566 063 824
E-mail: [email protected]
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