Anna, a photographer living in Vienna, hears a radio report claiming that invisible extraterrestrial beings known as Hyksos are taking possession of human bodies. As she moves through the city, evidence of the invasion appears to multiply: gestures become threatening, relationships fracture, and everyday reality seems permeated by aggression.
VALIE EXPORT uses the framework of science fiction to expose alienation, patriarchal control and the violence concealed within ordinary life. Anna’s body and camera become instruments of resistance as well as sites of conflict, turning perception itself into a political battleground. Nearly fifty years after its premiere, the film’s examination of gender, media and invisible structures of power remains startlingly immediate.
The legendary feature debut by feminist artist VALIE EXPORT, who died in 2026, remains one of the most original works of feminist avant-garde cinema. In the words of critic Amy Taubin: “As if Godard were reincarnated as a woman and decided to make a feminist version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
Part of a tribute programme to VALIE EXPORT (1940-2026) at MIRAGE 2026.
Intro by Mike Sperlinger: Professor of Theory & Writing at Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo and director of the screening initiative PRISMS (www.prisms.no).
The film is presented in collaboration with The Austrian Embassy to Oslo.
