Kurdwin Ayub
Kurdwin Ayub (Kurdish: Kurdvîn Eyûb; born 1990) is a Kurdish-Austrian filmmaker and artist based in Vienna. Her fiction feature debut Sonne (Sun) won the Best First Feature Award at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival.
Also recorded as Kurdvîn Eyûb
Kurdwin Ayub

Bernhard Holub · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Kurdwin Ayub
- Born
- 1990
- Birthplace
- Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
- Occupation
- Film director, screenwriter, performance artist
- Nationality
- Austria · Kurdistan Region of Iraq
- Education
- University of Applied Arts Vienna · Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
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Documentary summary
Kurdwin Ayub (Kurdish: Kurdvîn Eyûb; born 1990) is a Kurdish-Austrian filmmaker and artist based in Vienna. Her fiction feature debut Sonne (Sun) won the Best First Feature Award at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival.
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Note VALÉORINE
Kurdwin Ayub (born 1990) is a director, performance artist and screenwriter, a national of Austria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The director was born in Iraq.
Kurdwin Ayub was educated at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and University of Applied Arts Vienna. The director is a member of European Film Academy.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q94437962 · wikipedia · Kurdwin Ayub
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Kurdwin Ayub • Born — 1990 • Birthplace — Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq • Occupation — Film director, screenwriter, performance artist
Early life and education
Early life and education
Ayub was born to Kurdish parents in Duhok, Iraq; her family came to Austria as refugees when she was a child. She was educated in Vienna, studying painting and animation at the University of Applied Arts and studying performance art at the city's Academy of Fine Arts.
Career
Career
Ayub began directing short films in 2009 and was awarded the MehrWERT Short Film Award at the Vienna International Film Festival in 2011 and 2012. Paradies! Paradies! (Paradise! Paradise!), Ayub's feature-length directorial debut, followed her father Omar as he visited Kurdish relatives in Duhok after fleeing the city in 1991. The documentary screened at the 2016 Diagonale Film Festival, where Ayub was awarded the Best Camera prize. Her 2018 short film Boomerang was awarded the Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Max Ophüls Film Festival in 2019. In 2022, Ayub's full-length fiction debut Sonne (Sun), about three girls who film a music video while wearing burqas, received the Best First Film Award at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. The film was nominated for the European Discovery of the Year at the 35th European Film Awards. Mond (Moon), Ayub's 2024 fiction feature about a former martial artist who travels to Jordan to train the daughters of a wealthy family, premiered in the international competition at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Leopard. The film won the Special Jury Prize, the Europa Cinemas Label and the Boccalino d'Oro, and received a special mention from the Ecumenical Jury. Her films have been discussed in relation to migration, feminism and the rejection of racialized victim narratives. She is regarded as a representative of the Austrian New Wave.
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Works and production
Works and production
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. Institutional cataloguing adds that kurdwin Ayub is recorded with the occupation film director. It is also recorded that kurdwin Ayub is recorded with the occupation screenwriter. Recorded with the occupation performance artist. Recorded with the occupation director. It is also recorded that kurdwin Ayub is recorded as a citizen of Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Institutional cataloguing adds that kurdwin Ayub is recorded with the gender female. Born in Iraq.

14.05.2020; Pressekonferenz „Rotes Foyer“ mit Rendi-Wagner und KünstlerInnen im SPÖ-Parlamentsklub; An der Pressekonferenz zum Thema „Kultur ist systemrelevant – Arbeitsmöglichkeiten, Perspektiven und ein Rettungsschirm für KünstlerInnen und Kreative“ haben die SPÖ-Partei-und Klubvorsitzende Pamela Rendi-Wagner, SPÖ-Kultursprecher Thomas Drozda, Schauspielerin Gerti Drassl, Regisseur und Puppens
SPÖ Presse und Kommunikation · 6139DSC_4244

14.05.2020; Pressekonferenz „Rotes Foyer“ mit Rendi-Wagner und KünstlerInnen im SPÖ-Parlamentsklub; An der Pressekonferenz zum Thema „Kultur ist systemrelevant – Arbeitsmöglichkeiten, Perspektiven und ein Rettungsschirm für KünstlerInnen und Kreative“ haben die SPÖ-Partei-und Klubvorsitzende Pamela Rendi-Wagner, SPÖ-Kultursprecher Thomas Drozda, Schauspielerin Gerti Drassl, Regisseur und Puppens
SPÖ Presse und Kommunikation · 6108DSC_1782
Feature films
Feature films
• Year — English title — Original title — Ref. • 2016 — Paradise! Paradise! — Paradies! Paradies! • 2022 — Sun — Sonne • 2024 — Moon — Mond
Short films
Short films
• Year — Title — Ref. • 2009 — Mutterkindpass • 2010 — Kaiserschnitt • Homevideo • Die Intrige und die Archenmuscheln • 2011 — Schneiderei • Sommerurlaub • Katzenjammer • 2012 — Familienurlaub • 2013 — sexy • 2014 — VIDEO 1 • 2018 — Affection von Violet Spin • Boomerang • Armageddon • 2019 — pretty-pretty • 2020 — LOLOLOL
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Kurdwin Ayub”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q94437962: Kurdwin Ayub
General reference · Wikidata
Awards and nominations
• Year — Award — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • 2016 — Diagonale Film Festival — Best Camera — Paradies! Paradies! (Paradise! Paradise!) • 2019 — Max Ophüls Film Festival — Jury Prize for Best Short Film — Boomerang • 2022 — Berlin International Film Festival — Best First Film Award — Sonne (Sun) • European Film Awards — European Discovery of the Year • 2024 — Locarno Film Festival — Golden Leopard — Mond (Moon) • Special Jury Prize
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Koch, Michelle. Who’s That Girl. www.cinemanext.at.
- 2.Roxborough, Scott. Berlin: ‘Alcarras’ Wins Golden Bear for Best Film. The Hollywood Reporter.
- 3.Szalai, Georg. Iraq-Born Austrian Auteur Kurdwin Ayub Keeps It Provocative With ‘Moon’: “I Want to Trigger People”. The Hollywood Reporter.
- 4.Kurdwin Ayub. Cercamon World Sales.
- 5.Kurdwin Ayub. Vienalle.
- 6.Paradies! Paradies!. Austrian Films.
- 7.Barraclough, Leo. Locarno Competition Title ‘Moon,’ About Martial Arts Fighter on ‘Unsettling’ Assignment in Jordan, Debuts Teaser (EXCLUSIVE). Variety.
- 8.Lodge, Guy. Lithuanian Teen Drama ‘Toxic’ Wins Big at Locarno Film Festival. Variety. 17 August 2024.
- 9.»Ich möchte alles sein – aber kein Opfer«. Jacobin.de.
- 10."Die New Wave des österreichischen Kinos: Florian Pochlatko im FM4 Filmpodcast", ORF FM4; 22 September 2025
- 11.Kurdwin Ayub. Six Pack Film.
- 12.Locarno77: The Pardo d’Oro goes to Akiplėša (Toxic) by Saulė Bliuvaitė, a striking vision of the teenage female body as a battleground. Locarno Film Festival.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
This entry is compiled from 7 catalogued sources across 6 independent registers. The registers consulted are Crossref registry, Wikipedia, Wikidata, National Library of Medicine, DOAJ and DataCite. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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