The winner of the Locarno Special Jury Prize, which moves between a small Austrian town and the super-rich of Jordan, leaves viewers with more questions than answers.
Special Jury Prize – Cities Ascona and Losone to Mond (Moon) – Concorso Internazionale
Set in two very different locations, the elliptical second film from Iraqi-born Austrian filmmaker Kurdwin Ayub (“Sun”) follows a mixed martial arts fighter at the end of her competitive career. Faced with a lack of opportunities in her small Austrian town, she accepts a temporary job training the daughters of a super-rich but seedy Jordanian family. While the multiple ellipses may irritate more story-driven viewers, others will be thrilled by the mood Ayub creates and the way she plays with audience expectations. The film won a special jury prize in competition at Locarno and also received praise from independent film critics, and should be sought after at other festivals.
After her final round in the MMA cage leaves her feeling beaten and defeated, Sarah (Florentina Holzinger) spirals into depression. Previously a life spent training and competing, she now struggles to figure out her next move.
Sarah starts out teaching classes at a local gym; unfortunately, her schedule is a bit too hardcore for the amateurs who just want to look cool in boxing gloves. Her bourgeois older sister Bea (Tanya Ivankovic), a new mother, urges her to come up with a business plan; instead, Sarah takes a job offer from slick Arab businessman Abdul (Omar Almajali) who whisks her away from her current stresses and into the patriarchal atmosphere of the Middle East’s mega-rich: a space with its own problems, especially for young, unmarried women.
