Controversial Dox

Arab Attraction

Andreas Horvath
Screening time  
01.03. / Utorak, 22:00 - 00:00 Dvorana 4  
arbara Wally has been known throughout Austria for her outspoken feminist views for decades. But a few years before retiring from the International Summer Academy for Fine Arts in Salzburg, her life took a drastic turn.

During a 10-day vacation to Yemen, she fell in love with a chauffeur named Khadher and became his second wife. So this atheist Austrian converts to Islam, prays five times a day, and says goodbye to her beloved bacon. Directing duo Andreas Horvath and Monika Muskala pay her a visit in both Salzburg and Yemen. The heavyset woman with long, dyed red hair is a striking presence in the latter country. Together with her husband, she runs a local travel agency called Adensafari. But while her spouse spends his days slumped in his chair chewing qat or drinking tea with male relatives, Barbara can barely leave the house – a highlight of her daily routine is a game of dominos. ‘Arab Attraction’ is a remarkable portrait of a special woman who has drastically revised her point of view and now questions post-feminist Western society. Her switch to a subservient existence seems almost masochistic, or is Barbara just looking for peace and security in her new faith?

Andreas Horvath

Andreas Horvath, born in 1968 in Salzburg, Austria, is a photographer and filmmaker. He studied photography in Vienna (1990-1992) and film in Salzburg (1996-2000). Filmography: ‘Arab Attraction’ (2010), ‘The Passion According to the Polish Community of Pruchnik (2009), ‘Views of a Retired Night Porter (2006), ‘This Ain’t No Heartland’ (2004),’The Silence of Green’ (2002), ‘Poroerotus’ (1999).

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Arab Attraction

Austria
2010, 118', color, video

Directed by:
Andreas Horvath

Screenplay by:
Andreas Horvath, Monika Muskala

Edited by:
Andreas Horvath

Music:
Richard Wagner

Producer:
Andreas Horvath

Produced by:
Andreas Horvath