Oh Yeah, She Performs! (2012)

• 56%
• 2012
• Documentary
• Mirjam Unger
• Eva Jantschitsch
• Teresa Rotschopf
• Vera Kropf

"Oh Yeah, She Performs!" is about four extraordinary women pursuing the same dream: composing, producing, and living from their own music--without compromising their ideals. A film about female musicians. Gustav, aka Eva Jantschitsch, allows us a glimpse into her creative process, her private home studio, the rundown cellar rooms where her band rehearses and backstage at her large concerts. She talks about the feeling of being exposed during performances, the pressure of people's expectations, and her role as a mother. Clara Luzia discusses the issues she encounters as a musician, such as her health problems and precarious financial situation. She plays and sings to packed audiences at big concerts and allows us to film her band recording an album in a desolate farmhouse and accompany her to interviews with inquisitive journalists. We first meet Teresa Rotschopf as the frontwoman of disco band "Bunny Lake". She gradually loosens her ties to the band and starts writing her own songs, which she records with Viennese star producer Patrick Pulsinger. The film follows her to New York City, where she performs her own compositions as a solo musician. Luise Pop, aka Vera Kropf, composes songs in the tradition of surf punk and Riot Girls. She sings, writes, fronts a band, and is an outstanding guitarist. We follow her to rehearsals in a garden cottage and on tour through Austria's neighboring countries and watch how she excels on her electric guitar and as a singer. The film revolves around the work of these four women, portraying subtle emotions that hint at the various identities and the struggle to reconcile private and public personalities. The editing style connects these very different characters and highlights the dynamic plot. A break, a bridge, a riff, a rhyme, a glint in the eye, stage fright: flashes leading to the next snapshot of Gustav, Clara Luzia, Teresa Rotschopf, and Luise Pop in their element: music.