ervehea ziza 
is a writer, essayist & filmmaker
based in berlin.

born 1989 in kosova, she studied philosophy,
art history & dramaturgy.

she explores themes of intersectional feminism and anti-capitalism in culture,
pop culture,
film & arts.




keine zukunft ohne marx ☭

ervehea ziza 
is a writer, essayist & filmmaker
based in berlin.

born 1989 in kosova, she studied philosophy,
art history & dramaturgy.

she explores themes of intersectional feminism and
anti-capitalism in culture,
pop culture, 
film & arts.




keine zukunft ohne marx ☭



TV Show 

SAFE:SPACE

Series | 45’ | WDR/NDR/filmfaust

2022


in pre-production...


        A Horror Comedy abaout a women's shelter where a new life begins for some women, and ends for many men.
SAFE:SPACE was awarded for 
Macht Serie! by WDR & NDR.



Essay 

FREAKS, MONSTERS & VILLIANS - WHO’S AFRAID OF THE UGLY? 

FINAL GIRLS FILMFEST BERLIN

2022

        Originating from the Old Norse ‘ugglig’, meaning ‘to be feared or dreaded’, the term ‘ugly’ is now mostly used as an antonym for ‚beautiful’. Imagining the horror genre without elements of ‘the ugly’ seems almost impossible, as ugliness, often perceived as something disgusting and repulsive, forms the aesthetical basis for the horrors of the genre.
But what is it that we consider to be ugly? What attributes do we assign to ugliness? Whether consciously or not, many horror films support questionable notions of beauty as, for instance, racist and sexist stereotypes are reproduced and reinforced by forming the horror monsters’ physicality on noticeably discriminatory images. Further, the beautiful and the good are set up as binary opposites of the ugly and the evil.
This essay explores how ‘the ugly’ is represented in the horror genre by applying an intersectional feminist perspective. It examines how sexism, racism, ableism, and classism still provide continuities within the idea of the ugly and, thus, in the horror genre itself. 
Can ‘the ugly’ exist without discriminatory reproductions? And can there be horror without ugliness?




TV Show  

HAPPYLAND

Sitcom | 30’ | filmfaust

2021


in pre-production...

        After being accused of racism and a lack of diversity, the former hit show Happyland hires three writers of color to polish their reputation. However, the three have other things in mind than playing the production company’s tokens- and more importantly, they make a fantastic discovery that turns their lives upside down.




Web Show  

SEX/LIFE TALK #mamakommtgleich

YouTube | 45’ | Netflix/Kanakfilm 

2021



         Helicopter moms. Ravenous mothers. Breastfeeding in public. After-baby bodies. Muddis. Cougars. "MILFS." Everyone's talking about moms. But who actually listens to mothers? In the #MamaKommtGleich campaign, together with AMORELIE, we put an end to the double standards and show what mothers are really like: Mothers with desire. And without. Mothers with fantasies. And problems. Moms with bodies that are just the way they are. Mothers with stories. Wishes. Secrets. Mothers with needs. Like Billie in the series SEX/LIFE. Because no one decides how mothers should be - except mothers themselves. So that every mom knows: The perfect mother, that's you.




Web Show

FIVE SOULS TALK

Talkshow | 30’ | SWR/Kanakfilm

2021


       In the talk show FIVE SOULS, hosts Hadnet Tesfai, Tasha Kimberly and Thelma Buabeng talk with two guests about love, sex, interpersonal relationships, celebrities and pop culture.



TV Show 

GANGSTARZ

Series | 30’ | TVNOW/filmpool 

2020




        GANGSTARZ is about 16-year-old Samira, who dreams of a life as a successful musician - far away from the bleak record. She has never met her father, her mother is an alcoholic and her brother is about to end up in child care. While Samira constantly faces new problems at home, she finds support in her music and her clique.




Essay

AESTHETICS OF THE UNCANNY

UNIVERSTY OF COLOGNE

2020



        The Uncanny as an aesthetic experience has been little researched in the field of visual studies. Many cultural-theoretical arguments are based on a psychoanalytic definition of the term by Sigmund Freud, who in his essay of the same name from 1919 describes the Unheimlich - derived from German etymology - as a specifically spatial experience, namely as a topological shift from the familiar to the unfamiliar, from heimlich to unheimlich.
In this context, the german term Unheimlich not only refers etymologically to the home. The home or house also forms a topology of the Uncanny. In the arts, especially in the horror film or Haunted house genre, the house is at the center of the narrative and is successively transformed into a space of fear through both architectural and cinematic means. In the Haunted house genre, the house not only functions as a setting for uncanny phenomena, but also, as the cultural scientist Johannes Binotto writes, becomes a crime scene in the strictest sense of the word: as a place in which the crime is already inscribed1.

1 Binotto, Johannes: Tat/Ort. Das Unheimliche und sein Raum in der Kultur. Berlin, 2013



Movie 

IZZY’S PLACE

Shortfilm | 21’ | VRONG/Videokiosk

2018





        After everything at home is turned upside down and her dreams and longings turn out to be unattainable, Ezgi has to make a decision that will forever determine her future. A story about the struggle for freedom and sovereignty in the precariat class.  




TV Show

KÖLN 50667

Series | 45’ | filmpool

2017-2020




        A group of friends trying to defend love and friendship in an environment of intrigues and economic obstacles.




Movie 

HAYATı YAŞAMAK

Webfilm | 14’ | VRONG 

2017




       Cinematic vignettes published in a social media platform. An attempt to establish mobile democratic cinema in Germany, to provide new impetus for young filmmakers and to explore the limits of the medium (Instagram-)Story. Based on the original movie "Vivre sa vie" by filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, the nouvelle vague storytelling offered a template for an aesthetic experiment as the short clips and the "zapping" function of Instagram Story are technically equivalent to the nouvelle vague aestehetic.




Movie

VALLE

Essayfilm | 3’ | VRONG

2015


        Historical and personal found footage embedded in short sequences of the albanian dance Shota. The essay film contains archive material of the Kosova War, from current riots in the city of Mitrovica, which is spatially divided by the bridge and socially divided to the Serbs, the EU Commission EULEX, the criticized prime minister of Kosova Hashim Thaçi as well as recordings of the partisan fighter Shote Galica, after whom the Shota dance is named and who fought with the Rilindja guerrillas at the beginning of the 20th century - although women were forbidden to take part in combat - and thus participated in Albania's declaration of independence in 1912.

“DENNOCH
Ein entscheidender Moment, der der Erwartung eine widersprüchliche Wendung gibt. Konzessiv schlägt es die Brücke zwischen Aporie und Auflösung. Was paradox scheint, verknüpft sich mit einem “Dennoch”. Affirmation oder Negation? Optimismus oder Pessimismus? "Dennoch" verändert alles. […]Wenn Peggy Lee dafür plädiert, dass wir in Anbetracht von Hoffnungslosigkeit tanzen sollten, dann ist der Tanz Metapher für die Revolte, die Camus vorschlägt. Tanz ist Ritus, Brauchtum, Kunstgattung, Therapieform oder schlicht ein Gefühlsausdruck. Als Brauch reiht er sich in den Lebenszyklus von Geburt, Sexualität und Tod ein. Betrachtet man Volkstänze auch als eine historische Akkumulation kultureller Vergangenheiten, dann steht der Tanz – in diesem Fall der albanische Folkloretanz – für eine vergegenwärtigte Gesellschaft. Valle shqiptare lässt sich sowohl in „albanischer Tanz“ als auch in den Appell „Tanze, Albaner:in“ übersetzen. […] Sie tanzen. Sie tanzen, obwohl sie Krieg, Unterdrückung, Vergewaltigung und Tod erlebt haben. Sie tanzen, obwohl sie noch immer unter der Korruption und den falschen Versprechungen unter Thaçi und unter EULEX stehen. Obwohl Kosovas Unabhängigkeitserklärung noch immer nicht einstimmig anerkannt, sie nicht frei sind. Obwohl es zunehmend Arbeitslosigkeit und Armut gibt. Obwohl die Konflikte mit Serbien  noch immer kein Ende finden. Sie tanzen, obwohl sie an eben diese Traditionen gekettet sind. Sie tanzen, trotz allem. Weil sie sich für die Revolte entschieden haben. Weil sie keine andere Wahl haben.”




Illustration

VAKT O VAKT

Mixed Media 

2014




       The kosova-albanian diaspora is characterized by a strong bond with their "homeland", a feeling that has been passed on orally and culturally over generations and is still mystified. The mixed media story Vakt o Vakt critically questions the term "home" and "homeland" and the concepts of longing of the post-war generation from the perspective of 14-year-old Eleonora.




Essay

PROLETKULT

Filmcritic 

2008-2013


        A film review with a special focus can be found under the blog proletkult (2008-2013) which explored films and pop culture through its costume design.
Inspired by the revolutionary proletkult movement, the blog was an attempt to open an intellectual film discourse to a wider public, a negotiation of a so-called “Filmkanon”.




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