Ayub’s full-length feature, which she wrote and directed, centres around Yesmin, who, with her non-Muslim friends makes a dance video that goes viral.
Iraqi actress Kurdwin Ayub, a former refugee, won the Best First Feature award at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival for her drama Sonne.
Sonne tells the story of a Kurdish teen, Yesmin, born in Vienna to Iraqi parents, whose religious and cultural identity is tested when a video she makes with her non-Muslim friends goes viral.
The first feature from Ayub, a writer, director and video and performance artist known for blurring the lines between fact and fiction, draws on current events, viral news stories and the filmmaker’s own experience to provide a vivid portrait of a young woman at a crossroads.
Born in Iraq, Ayub fled the country with her family during the first Gulf War. They spent time in Turkey before relocating to Austria. She grew up on the outskirts of Vienna in a refugee camp and is now an Austrian citizen.
Her shorts have been shown and awarded at numerous international film festivals. In 2013, she was awarded the Vienna Independent Short Newcomer Prize, while in 2011 and 2012, she received the Viennale Mehrwert Short Film Prize.
This year’s Berlinale was held in-person for the first time in two years but was a shorter competition than usual, with strict regulations for audiences just as Covid-19 infections were peaking in Germany.
The festival awarded its Golden Bear top prize to Spanish director Carla Simon’s semi-autobiographical drama Alcarras, about a family of peach farmers fighting for their future.
There were 18 films from 15 countries vying for the Golden Bear, with the jury led by Indian-born American director M. Night Shyamalan.
