The first winner of the festival has been announced: Matthew Gerges received the Austrian Music Video Award (MUVI) for his music video for “Make Me Cry” by On Bells. At the award ceremony on Friday evening (May 27) at METRO Kinokulturhaus, the jury praised the way Gerges softens “the boundaries between the intimate and the obscene”. The prize, awarded for the tenth time, is endowed with € 1,500 and was donated by the Professional Association of the Film and Music Industry (FAMA).

Watch the winning video here: Make Me Cry – On Bells

In the music video for On Bells, the solo project of Styrian musician and visual artist Jakob Kolb, Gerges stages a toxic relationship between two men who alternately seduce and fight each other. A “golden shower” is as much a part of the performance as a candle sticking out of the anus of one of the performers. “While watching it, you partake in acts of intimate pleasure, and the composition (of image and music) makes you want to join in on this unconventional playground,” reads the verdict of the jury, consisting of curator Hanna Bauer, film critic Savina Petkova, and filmmaker and last year’s winner Lorenz Uhl.

SPECIAL MENTION FOR NENDA

An honorable mention was given to “Borders” by Nenda Neururer aka NENDA. In her self-staged video and the accompanying song, the Tyrolean rapper deals with the effect that—often randomly drawn—borders have on the individual.

Watch the video here: Borders – NENDA

The jury was struck by “how the feel-good artistic expression can mislead us in the best possible way. Multiple layers of meaning converge in a homogenous style, political and urgent, unafraid to call injustice by its name and to do so with precision—to engage, to challenge, to channel the artist’s power for change." NENDA was also nominated for the MUVI last year with the music video for her song “Mixed Feelings”.

A total of 18 music videos were nominated at the jubilee edition of the Austrian Music Video Award, with winner Matthew Gerges also in the running with a second video, “Genesis – ANTHEA feat. Ayegy”. The screening and award ceremony took place on Friday evening at METRO Kinokulturhaus, along with a live concert by ANTHEA and hosted by FM4 editor Gersin Livia Paya.

AWARDED FILMS SINCE 2013

• 2022: Make Me Cry – On Bells, Director: Matthew Gerges
• 2021: BRUMM BRUMM – YUKNO × Oehl feat. Autodrom, Director: Lorenz Uhl
• 2020: Über Nacht – Oehl, Director: Rupert Höller
• 2019: Italy & (This is) Water – Soap&Skin, Directors: Ioan Gavriel, Anja Plaschg
• 2018: Frizzle Frizz – KIDS N CATS, Directors: Patryk Senwicki, Dominic Spitaler
• 
2017: Bulletproof – VENTIL Directors: Florian Kindlinger, Peter Kutin
• 2016: GOD OF GHOSTS/Nu Renegade – Zebra Katz x Leila, Director: Florian Pochlatko
• 2015: TRISTES DÉSERTS - A Robot’s Tale (August feat. Austrian Apparel), Director: Stephanie Winter
• 
2014: Maschin – Bilderbuch, Director: Antonin B. Pevny
• 2013: MeTube: August sings Carmen ‚Habanera‘, Director: Daniel Moshel

News 28.5.2022