 An ominous chord ends as the lights of a big city, towers of glass and a slender silhouette rise into view. Sophia is on a dangerous mission. In her cat-suit and fashionably styled red hair, and with an apparently endless arsenal of burglar tools, she nimbly climbs a façade. Sophia s Sofa doesn t bother with long explanations: It s night, there s no time to lose, and dangers abound. The rhythm is set by the high-hat; a lascivious bass line accompanies Sophia as if she were the heroine in a movie scored by Lalo Schifrin. As mysterious as Irma Vep and tough as Trinity in The Matrix, she makes her way through a labyrinth of oblique angles and treacherous laser traps. Her goal is in the strong room; the object of her desire waits under a glass cover. Suddenly, there are quiet steps behind her. A flash of white announces the presence of a rival: Sophia is not the only burglar here tonight. Sophia¹s Sofa is a light-footed homage to comic-book heroines: cosmopolitan criminals able to run up walls and jump several meters in a single bound who still find time to do their hair. In less than three minutes, AUGE tells a story which has been reduced to the bare minimum, in expressive tableaus, split screens and to the rhythm of its eclectic soundtrack. The video winds down in a happy ending and an easy-going bossa nova groove. (Michael Loebenstein)