Ulrich Seidl (born 1952) is the director of numerous award-winning documentaries such as Jesus, du weißt/ Jesus, You Know, Models/ Models and Tierische Liebe/ Animal Love. His work methods, achieving the greatest possible authenticity and showing people in the most solitary and personal moments, has aroused intense debate.
From his debut film, a provocative piece on a very short man, Einsvierzig, shot in 1979, straight down to Import/Export, his latest exercise in epic realism, Ulrich Seidl has managed to disturb, infuriate and touch audiences.
Seidl’s film work, derived from personal experiences like a severe catholic upbringing and doing casual labor as a night watchman and warehouse worker, continues to shock and challenge viewers by posing essential questions about the nature of cinema and its „morals“: about the gray areas between the fictional and the documentary; about the limits of voyeurism and the urge to fight sentimentality; about the very different modes of acting – from amateur posing to professional faking. His first fiction feature, Hundstage/ Dog Days, won the Grand Jury Special Prize at the 2001 Venice Film Festival. Import/Export is the first film that Seidl has also produced.
He lives in Vienna, Austria.