short film
2023, 22 min, colour, stereo / 5.1, german w/ en subtitles

The desktop video essay “getty abortions” examines how German and Austrian media illustrate the topic of abortion, browsing through stock photo databases, teen magazines and personal documents of a real abortion experience. It jumps from the early 2000s to the late 19th century, seeks out feminist knowledge and chats with fictional characters. But one question remains: Why does no one look into the camera?

upcoming screenings:
23.10. Cinema NEXT Tour, Cinematograph INNSBRUCK
24.10. HMKV Dortmund
25.10. Filmkunsttage Sachsen-Anhalt
29.10. Doxs! Ruhr
25.10. – 3.11. Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival
5. – 10.11. Interfilm Berlin
8.11. Alcine / Comunidad de Madrid Film Festival
23.11. exground Wiesbaden
30.11. Deichtorhallen Hamburg
11.12. Filmmuseum Wien

past screenings:
DOK Leipzig
Kassel Dokfest
Diagonale Graz
dokumentarfilmwoche Hamburg
International Festival of Science Documentary Films Olomouc
It’s All True International Documentary Festival São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro
Vienna Shorts
Internationales Kurzfilmfestival Hamburg
Festival International de Cine de Huesca
XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin
Portofemme – International Film Festival
Internationales Frauen Film Fest Köln
Lago Film Fest
OpenEyes Marburg
Cinema Talks Festival Graz
Sehsüchte Potsdam
feminist elsewheres Festival at arsenal Berlin
Flensburger Kurzfilmtage
International Short Film Week Regensburg
Frauenzentrum Schokofabrik Berlin
Medical Students for Choice Witten
Fachtag "Reproduktive Rechte" des AK Aufarbeitung Hexenverfolgung Leipzig & der Frauenkultur Leipzig
Medical Students for Choice Halle
Bündnis für sexuelle Selbstbestimmung Göttingen 
Queerhimmel3000 at faq Infoladen Berlin
Fachtag „My Body – My Rights. Alternativen zum §218“ Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Dresden
Medical Students for Choice Jena 
Sinema Transtopia Berlin
Fusion Festival


awards:
Golden Dove, German Competition DOK Leipzig
Golden Key, Kassel Dokfest
Social Responsibility Award, Vienna Shorts
Audience Award, International Short Film Festival Hamburg
Special Mention, Doc Alliance Award
Best Short, FIDBA – Buenos Aires International Documentary Film Festival
Candis Award, International Short Film Week Regensburg
Best Short, Queer Lisboa
Wagnis Jury Award, Flensburger Kurzfilmtage
Best Short, International Festival of Science Documentary Films Olomouc
Outstanding Artistic Achievement in a Documentary, Sehsüchte Potsdam
Jury Award Category Social, Cinema Talks Festival Graz
Best Film Award Documentary Student Competition, Portofemme
Honorable Mention, Kinemastik International Short Film Festival
3. Platz Audience Award Dokumentarfilm, OpenEyes Filmfest

idea, research, script, editing, production: Franzis Kabisch
sound design: Franzis Kabisch, Katharina Pelosi, Laura Schick
sound mixing: Azadeh Zandieh
production assistance and translation: Sam Osborn
funded by Queerscope Kurzfilmfonds, Doctors for Choice Germany e.V. and Stadt Wien Kultur

documentary film
work in progress

“Between Images” (working title) is an ongoing film and television research project. It combines found footage of abortion scenes in fictional films and tv series with scenes of collective viewings and critical discussions of the narratives that influenced our views on abortion.

Screenings:
arsenal – institut für film und videokunst e.v.
Cathrin Pichler Prize presentation at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

short film / music video for Gaddafi Gals
2018, 5 min, colour, no dialogue
together with Magdalena Fischer and Sophie Utikal

“Gaze” is a short film about the empowerment of producing one’s own images instead of being represented, as well as about the courage to trust the gaze of others.

“Gaze” was shown at Porn Film Festival Berlin 2018, Impulstanz Vienna 2019 and Vienna Shorts Film Festival 2019 (among others).

Watch it here.

performances by Lau Lukkarila, Bassano Bonelli Bassano, ch4mp4in
song by Gaddafi Gals, lyrics by Samira Mahboub

short film
2018, 28 min, HD, colour, stereo, de/en with subtitles

The short film “A Film About The Desire to Make It Work” speaks with different voices at the same time. On the hand, there is the story of the radio presenter Jeanne who supposedly loses her voice and looks for answers to an indecipherable problem. Receiving suggestions from different discourses (a doctor, a speech trainer, a body practitioner, a researcher and a sound technician), she remains speechless or rather unheard after all. Additionally, the film gives voice to other sounds: a mourning choir speaks to Jeanne – not with words, but with experimental noise and body language. In the end, it's not clear, what it is that is not working: Jeanne‘s body, the communication with others, speech itself or a cinematic dramaturgy?

This film was part of the research project “Die Sprache der Stimme”, in collaboration with Laura Nitsch, funded by ORF III, BKA, arte.tv and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Pixel, Bytes & Film—Artist in Residence). It was shown on ORF III, arte.tv and in mumok kino Vienna.

Watch an excerpt here.

with Tala Al-Deen, Kit Asztalos, Ebru Düzgün, Barbara Juch, Sophie Utikal, Antonia Wagner-Strauss
idea, research, production: Franzis Kabisch, Laura Nitsch
director of photography: Laura Nitsch
additional camera and editing: Franzis Kabisch
additional camera and editing assistance: Nick Prokesch
production assistance: Malu Blume, Amina Lehner
sound and sound mixing: Theda Schifferdecker
light: Jennifer Gelardo
costume and make-up: İpek Hamzaoğlu, Malu Blume

video installation,
2014, 7 channels, each 20 to 88 min, HD, colour, stereo, 
including the film “Podium”,
50 min, HD, colour, stereo, de/en with subtitles

The film “Podium” shows a panel discussion with six participants who have, however, never met on the podium. Instead of a conversation with each other the discussants were invited after each other. The invited speakers were Melanie Brazzell, Sharon Dodua Otoo, Leonhard Fuest, Evelyn Hayn, Christian Schütze and Vassilis Tsianos, all of them dealing with power relations and language, as well as discrimination in language – in academia or activist contexts. Facing a setting in which they have to talk about others – not only as a content matter, but also on a superior visual layer – they reflect very differently on their own positions, privileges and linguistic devices. Last but not least, the figure of the expert itself is called into question.

Screenings:
Kasseler Dokfest 2015
thealit Bremen

See more images and watch a trailer here.

with Christian Schütze, Vassilis Tsianos, Leonhard Fuest, Melanie Brazzell, Sharon Dodua Otoo, Evelyn Hayn
concept, directing, editing, production: Franzis Kabisch
director of photography: Heiko Volkmer
sound and sound mixing: Davi Rodriguez de Lima
production assistance: Badrieh Wanli
funded by Freundeskreis der HfbK e.V., supported by Gerriets

short film
2016, 28 min, HD, colour, stereo, de/en with subtitles

“Deklinationen (Can I inherit my dead parents‘ debts?)” is a short film about norms and forms, hands and arguments, different bodies and bodily knowledge. The tradition to depict professors in oil or marble exists in various German-speaking universities. The so-called professor galleries – partly stemming from the 17th century, partly still in process – function as a university’s self-portrait, then and today. What remains invisible at first, though, are the exclusions. Apart from the obvious exclusions based on race, class and gender, there are also subtle details: Not all of the professors could afford the required painting. If the payment was too low, certain parts (for example the hands) were simply left out.

Screenings:
21er Haus Vienna
Bundeskunsthalle Bonn
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
Haus am Lützowplatz Berlin
art festival Tell Tales Mainz

with Barbara Juch, Katharina Aigner, İpek Hamzaoğlu, Mirela Baciak, Franzis Kabisch
directing, editing, camera, production: Franzis Kabisch
additional camera: Laura Nitsch
sound mixing: Peter Priglinger
funded by GegenKulturreferat ÖH der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Projektförderung der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

experimental short film
2012, 4 min, found footage and photography, colour, stereo, de/en

“A Film” is a film about names, terms and the problems coming with them.

Screenings:
Kasseler Dokfest
Hamburg International Short Film Festival
OFF Odense Internationale Film Festival
Uppsala International Short Film Festival
Festival des Cinémas Différents et Experimentaux de Paris (award)
minimalen 26 – Short Film Festival, Trondheim
International Short Film Week Regensburg
Filmfestival Münster
filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schwerin
20 minmax Short Film Festival Ingolstadt
Flensburger Short Film Days (Special Mention)
Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS
backup festival Weimar
„extra – experimental trails“, festival for experimental film and video art Leipzig

Watch the German version here.