MUBI streams debut features by Martine Syms and Amalia Ulman

The streaming platform MUBI, founded by Turkish entrepreneur Efe Çakarel and known for its curated selection of auteur cinema, has added debut feature films by artists Martine Syms and Amalia Ulman to its library. Syms' The African Desperate (2022) is presented alongside two other videos—Soliloquy (2021) and She Mad: Bitch Zone (2020)—in a triptych dedicated to the artist. The film stars Diamond Stingily as Palace, a protagonist in an autobiographical depiction of Syms' first 24 hours as a Master of Fine Arts. It functions as a coming-of-age comedy that parodies stereotypes and critiques the art system's contradictions between exclusivity and inclusivity. Ulman's El Planeta (2022) draws on her experience as an Argentine immigrant in Spain and as an autistic woman, telling the story of mother and daughter Maria and Leo who desire a lifestyle they cannot afford. The film, co-starring Ulman's real mother, balances humor with tenderness as the characters face eviction, debt, and prostitution. Both films share a tone of irony, empathy, and stylistic sharpness, with Syms' avatar in Soliloquy accusing a generation of reducing imagination to fundamental realism. MUBI has previously featured works by Hito Steyerl, Matthew Barney, Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Mark Leckey, and Bahar Noorizadeh.