Locarno Competition Title Moon, About Martial Arts Fighter on Unsettling Assignmen

The teaser (above) has debuted for Moon (Mond), which has its world premiere on Aug. 11 in the International Competition section of Locarno Film Festival. Bendita Film Sales has just come on board to handle world sales rights.

Thumbnail of the embedded video

The teaser (above) has debuted for “Moon” (Mond), which has its world premiere on Aug. 11 in the International Competition section of Locarno Film Festival. Bendita Film Sales has just come on board to handle world sales rights.

The film is written and directed by Kurdwin Ayub, whose first fiction feature film, “Sonne,” premiered at the 2022 Berlinale in the Encounters competition and won the best first feature award.

Ayub, who was born in Iraq and lives in Vienna, was also nominated for the European Discovery Award at the 35th European Film Awards for “Sonne.” It won best Austrian film at Viennale. Her feature documentary “Paradise! Paradise!” won best camera at the Diagonale – Festival of Austrian Film.

Related Stories

Illustration of a TV set with a desert scene with a tumbleweed blowing across the screen VIP+

Fall Season’s Scripted Reduction Bodes Badly for Broadcast TV

beyonce post malone country album grammy grammys awards ballot nominations

Why Beyoncé and Post Malone Will Both Score Grammy Nods for Best Country Album, Despite Contrary Approaches to the Genre

In “Moon,” former martial arts fighter Sarah leaves Austria to train three sisters from a wealthy Jordanian family. What sounds initially like a dream job soon becomes unsettling: the young women are cut off from the outside world and under constant surveillance. Sport doesn’t seem to interest them. So why has Sarah been hired?

In a statement, Ayub said: “It’s all about sisters, no matter where they come from, and about cages, no matter where they are. Cages you want to leave and those you wish you could return to.”

The film stars Florentina Holzinger, Andria Tayeh, Celina Antwan and Nagham Abu Baker.

“Moon” is produced by controversial filmmaker Ulrich Seidl for Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion with the support of the Austrian Film Institute and Filmfonds Vienna, and in collaboration with ORF Film and Fernseh-Abkommen. The co-producers are ZDF/ARTE and ZDF/Das kleine Fernsehspiel. It is made in collaboration with Essential Films.

The film shot from April until August 2023 in Jordan and Austria.

The cinematographer is Klemens Hufnagl and the editor is Roland Stöttinger.

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXOAjp%2BgpaVfnLmwrsClZqWnk5a%2Fr7uMpqaopl2pv6K1y56pZmliaINxhZRtbnFn

 Share!