Short Films and Installations

Aotearoa: Sketches 1-3

video installation 3 x 18 min, DVD, Germany-New Zealand 2004) for the exhibition “Zoll/Douane” in the harbor of Hamburg.  The installation consists of three parts. Each is  presented on its own screen and projected simultaneously.

1) Mitimiti Beach
Tipo makes his living as an eel-breeder and fisherman in the area of Mitimiti Beach, while also renting out his premises to tourists. Tipo lets us take part of his daily life and work at the crossroads of nature, tradition and influx of 21st century-lifestyle.
2) The Son of a Chief
Hone is the son of a chief of the Naghpui tribe. He performs tribal rituals and discusses the spirituality inherent in the history of his upbringing.
3) Mohala
Cathie Dunsford, writer of highly praised novels such as Cowrie and Manawa Toa, and Beryl Fletcher, author of the award-winning novel The Word Burners, touch on subjects dealing with the colonial past and the strong influences of feminist, ecological and native culture in Aotearoa.

Jump Cut, a Travel Diary

feature-length documentary, Germany 2004, 78 minutes, color, Beta SP, written, directed & shot; produced by thede filmproduktion. Distributed by Hyena Films.
Filmmaker Monika Treut documents her journey from West to East and North to South reflecting personal experience and global crisis. In search of new projects and new personal orientation she travels from San Francisco to Rio de Janeiro, from Paris to Jerusalem, from Toronto to Taipei.
World premiere: Lichtmess Kino Hamburg, January 2004. Metropolis Kino Hamburg, February 2004. International premiere: Cambridge International Filmfestival, July 14th, 2004.

ENCOUNTER WITH WERNER SCHROETER

Short documentary, Germany 2003, 15 min, color, Beta SP, written, directed, shot & produced. Distributed by Hyena Films.

The late German film, theatre and opera director Werner Schroeter was a self-proclaimed „dinosaur from another age when people dreamed of ultimate freedom in film“. Filmmaker Treut visits him on the set of his feature „DEUX“ in Paris, and in Düsseldorf during the production of the opera „Norma“. World premiere: Montreal IFF October 2003. Screened at International Documentary Filmfestival Thessaloniki March 2004. In use for retrospectives and university screenings.

DANISH GIRLS SHOW EVERYTHING

A feature-length omnibus film by 20 international directors, including Jaime H. Hermosillo, Mika Kaurismäki, Dusan Makavejev, Zhang Yuan, Krzysytof Zanussi, and MONIKA TREUT.
Denmark 1996. 35 mm, color. Produced by Holland House, Copenhagen. World Premiere: Kopenhagen, May 1996.

Synopsis

Treut’s narrative segment, entitled Casting, is an amusing exploration of cross-cultural cliches. Hollywood, the world capital of film, meets Copenhagen, the world capital of porn. The film stars two real-life Danish actresses Camilla Soeberg and Karen Moller, who play aspiring actresses Anne and Kristine. Like most up and coming actors they’re asked to audition for a B-movie production company. There they meet a sleazy casting agent and a hysterical producer who see the Danish girls as easy to exploit “T & A material”.

Cast

Camilla Soberg // Karen Moller // Holly Woodlawn // Pearl Harbour // Kent Fuher // Gregg Gibbs // Jake White // Michael Massee // Meredith Brody and Jackie Beat

Crew

Cinematographer: Joey Forsyte // Editor: Lisa Braden // Online editor: John Luck // Sound: Terry Taylor // Executive Producer: Holland House, Copenhagen // Producer: Henry S. Rosenthal // Writer, Director, Co-Producer: Monika Treut

Erotique

World Premiere: Toronto IFF 1995.

Synopsis

EROTIQUE (German title: LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX) is a collection of three films by three filmmakers: Let’s Talk About Sex by Lizzie Borden, Taboo Parlor by Monika Treut, and Wonton Soup by Clara Law. Three award-winning directors take an elegant and erotic journey from Los Angeles (Borden) to Hamburg (Treut) to Hong Kong (Law) with a unique female perspective. Daring to live out their fantasies, three couples search for adventure and fulfillment and creatively expand their horizons through their sexuality.

In TABOO PARLOR, Treut’s contribution to the film EROTIQUE, two stunning women, Claire and Julia, are in search of adventure. They scour the nightclubs of Hamburg trying to find the right lover for Julia, but things get heated when jealousies flare and Claire decides to fulfill her fantasies as well.

Cast

Priscilla Barnes (Claire) // Camilla Soeberg (Julia) // Michael Carr (Victor) // Peter Kern (Franz) // Marianne Sägebrecht (Hilde) // and Tanita Tikaram (Azian)

Crew

Cinematography: Elfi Mikesch // Music: Tanita Tikaram, Joachim Witt, Rocco Boness // Editor: Steve Brown // Costumes: Susan Klindtwordt // Executive Producers: Group 1, Brandon and Marianne Chase // Writer and Director: Monika Treut

Festivals

Rotterdam, Munich, Hamburg, Miami, Montreal, San Francisco Frameline, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver and others.

Reviews

Sex should be a natural for the movie camera, but somehow it isn’t. In the exalted capacity of movie reviewer, I have the privilege of seeing hundreds of simulated sex acts in the course of a year. Most of these scenes look belabored, by-the-numbers, tired. The ones that work are those that seem personal, that make you believe the people on screen really desire each other. The love scenes in “Erotique,” a collection of short, sexy films by three women film makers, all work in this way. Oh, yes. Yes, indeed. Let me tell you. . . . This entertaining, quirky collection is almost as good as the real thing. SF Chronicle

It’s Monika Treut’s ‘Taboo Parlor’ that makes EROTIQUE stand out. Cheerfully playing with gender, sexuality and traditional sexual roles, Treut’s tale of two predatory lipstick lesbians who cruise an archetypal straight man before fucking him in every sense of the word had the Castro audience on its feet and cheering …. The stuff of straight porn turned on its head with wit, daring and aplomb, ‘Taboo Parlor’ makes EROTIQUE unmissable. Gay Times, London

Sexual positions that make the Kama Sutra look like childs’ play ... Chicago Sun-Times

Fasten your seatbelts for this journey into the female sexual psyche….. Los Angeles Times