Flaming Ears (Rote Ohren fetzen durch Asche)

Austria, 1991 • 84 min

Directed by Ursula Pürrer, Dietmar Schipek, Ashley Hans Scheirl

We are proud to announce that this year’s program will include a special screening of Flaming Ears, accompanied by special guests, on 19 December at Turistarama Cologne.

A seminal work of queer underground cinema, Flaming Ears blends lesbian sci-fi, surrealist fever dream, and apocalyptic vision into a singular, genre-defying experience.

Set in the year 2700—known as the Year of the Toads—the film unfolds in Asche, a burned-out metropolis of concrete wastelands, collapsing highways, perpetual darkness, and ceaseless conflict. Amid this turmoil, three women navigate a world on the edge: Spy, a comic-book artist; Volly, a performance artist and desire-driven pyromaniac; and Nun, an amoral alien with a taste for the forbidden. Their intersecting paths form a tale of obsession, vengeance, and a fiercely anti-romantic search for love in all its unruly forms. Immersive, transgressive, and propelled by a pulsating soundtrack, Flaming Ears remains a visceral exploration of bodies, identities, and resistance.

Created in 1991 by the directorial trio Ursula Pürrer, Dietmar Schipek, and Ashley Hans Scheirl, the film stands as a landmark of Austrian avant-garde cinema and a cornerstone of cyberdyke filmmaking.