WatchAUT 2025

From the 1970s to today, this collection, courtesy of the Sixpack archive, charts a bold lineage of filmmakers who shattered conventions and reimagined cinematic possibilities. Spanning decades of innovation, Frame Rebels showcases a kaleidoscope of creative rebellion, where form meets subversion and the boundaries of film are constantly redrawn.

Birth of Venus, dir. Moucle Blackout, Austria 1972, 5 mins.
A surreal montage of 30 photos, including friends and a dead pig found on the road, forms the core of this experimental gem from the 70s, blending dark humour with a sharp critique of gender and power dynamics.

Valley Pride, dir. Lukas Marxt, Austria/Germany 2023, 15 mins.
In this contemporary short doc, the camera floats upside down through a palm grove, capturing nature in strict, artificial order — a man-made dystopia. Lukas Marxt examines California’s Imperial Valley, where monocultural agriculture thrives at the expense of ecological and human well-being.

Ball Head, dir. Mara Mattuschka, Austria 1985, 6 mins.
In Ball Head, Mara Mattuschka transforms her body into both a canvas and a machine in a striking exploration of creation and self-destruction. The film's centerpiece features a shocking moment where Mattuschka shaves her head with a razor, bleeding red like ink on paper.

Art Education, dir. Maria Lassnig, Austria/USA 1976, 8 mins.
In this short experimental film, Austrian artist Maria Lassnig delivers a witty feminist reimagining of iconic works by Vermeer, Michelangelo, and others. Known for her deeply personal, introspective art, Lassnig often explored themes of the body and identity.

Conference, notes on film 05, dir. Norbert Pfaffenbichler, Austria 1976, 8 mins.
A surreal exploration of the portrayal of Adolf Hitler in cinema, featuring 65 world famous actors who embody the dictator in various forms. Through fragmented Super 8 footage and a haunting electronic soundtrack by Bernhard Lang, the film examines the grotesque nature of these portrayals, from variations on his iconic mustache to absurdly mismatched interpretations.

Loving in Between, dir. Jyoti Mistry, Austria/South Africa 2023, 18 mins.
Between birth and death, is the power to love and live. With spoken word and archive sources, love is unboxed from categories in queer expression and a celebration of eros as the power to change our attitudes to life and to allow others to live their lives without judgment or prejudice.

Issues With My Other Half, dir. Anna Vasof, Austria 2023, 6 mins.
In Issues with my Other Half, Anna Vasof explores the unsettling loss of control over the body with a sharp, darkly comedic edge, blending body-horror with surrealism. The unpleasant loss of controllability of the body is mixed in with the pleasurable and imaginative transformation of everyday objects and processes in order to make tangible the illusion machine of cinema and our sluggish vision.

Tako Tsubo, dir. Eva Pedroza and Fanny Sorgo, Austria/Germany 2024, 6 mins. 
This minimalist, visually stunning short by Eva Pedroza and Fanny Sorgo plunges into a strange world where every gesture feels deliberate, and every moment is laced with oddity. Inspired by the Japanese term for stress-induced cardiomyopathy, Tako Tsubo blends stark animation with thought-provoking imagery to explore what happens when the heart is no longer the center of our existence.