In cooperation with the YOUKI International Youth Media Festival, we are inviting two young filmmakers who will present their first videos in comparison to current work, and who will answer questions by young people concerning various aspects of their work as well as questions about work in the film industry in an open discussion format. In 2021 this event took place online on 4 June, 3pm, streamed from the Kunstuniversität Linz by DORFTV.
YAAAS! Close-Up Guests 2021:
Unfortunately, in 2020 the YAAAS! Close-Up had to be canceled due to the pandemic. However, we are therefore very excited to have the premiere of this format with the two guests planned for the previous year: Nicola von Leffern and Gregor Schmidinger.
We'd love for you to watch the following clips and post questions for Gregor and Nicola on our Instagram page #yaaas_crossingeurope. We will then incorporate these into the conversations during the livestream.
This excerpt comes from Gregor Schmidinger's video BORGER, which was made during his time in school at the Borg Bad Leonfelden.
Nicola von Leffern
Nicola von Leffern (*1986) is a German-Austrian director, born and raised in Hamburg. Early in her career, she began to work as a journalist for television (NBC, ORF, Pro7) and it was there that she found her passion in making film and telling audiovisual stories. After finishing her studies in Theatre, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna and the “Comuncación Audiovisual” in Salamanca (ES), she decided to enroll at university once more and began her studies at the Filmacamdemy Vienna in 2013. Her current works focus on topics such as “female empowerment” and “state of the art”, in the form of short films, music videos, advertisements, and documentaries. Her films have premiered at various international film festivals, and have drawn international attention. Nicola von Leffern is active in the realm of dreamy authenticity, she delves into her characters in the most intimate fashion, and shows them in a way that is that is typical of her “female gaze”.
Nicola von Leffern,
Photo: Katharina Kubin
Photo: Katharina Kubin
Gregor Schmidinger
Gregor Schmidinger lives in Vienna as a screen writer and director. His feature film debut NEVRLAND (2019) was awarded the Max Ophüls prize by the youth jury as well as three awards at the Austrian film awards 2020, among others. His films deal with many autobiographical aspects and focus on such topics as fear, yearning, tenderness, and homosexuality. In the framework of the YAAAS! Close-Up, he will show parts of his video work “Borger” that was developed during his time at school at the BORG Bad Leonfelden, as well as a gripping nightmare from the film NEVRLAND.
Gregor Schmidinger,
Photo: Yannik Steer
Photo: Yannik Steer
