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Ulrich Maria Seidl, born on November 24, 1952 in Vienna, Austria, was supposed to become a priest according to his parents' wishes, but instead studied journalism and theater studies in Vienna and subsequently completed studies in directing at the Vienna Film Academy. In his graduation film, the documentary "Der Ball" ("The Prom", AT, 1982), he observed the preparations for a traditional student ball in his hometown of Horn. After graduation, he worked for the Austrian public broadcasting company ORF and foreign television stations and as a freelance director of documentary dramas.
Seidl made his feature film debut in 1990 with "Good News: Von Kolporteuren, toten Hunden und anderen Wienern" ("Good News: Newspaper Salesmen, Dead Dogs and Other People from Vienna", AT), about the bleak everyday life of newspaper vendors on Vienna's streets. Already in this film he cultivated an idiosyncratic cinematic style: Seidl always works without any off-commentary or interviews, but observes his protagonists in long, quiet takes - and contrary to the 'rules' of documentary filmmaking, he also stages the characters in 'typical' situations of their everyday lives, without this being clearly recognizable to the viewer as acting. At the Viennale 1991, "Good News" was awarded the Vienna Film Prize.
His subsequent film "Mit Verlust ist zu rechnen" ("Losses to be Expected", AT, 1992), about the relationship between an aging widower from Austria and an aging widow from the Czech Republic, received the Special Jury Prize at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival. Seidl caused quite a stir with "Tierische Liebe" ("Animal Love", AT, 1996), in which he portrayed a number of lonely Viennese citizens for whom dogs or other pets such as rabbits serve as substitutes for human interlocutors, life companions or even bedfellows. More obviously staged was "Models" (AT, 1999), in which three young Viennese photo models (as well as their friends and associates) play themselves in supposedly typical situations of their professional and private lives. The film premiered in the Panorama section of the 1999 Berlinale.
With "Hundstage" ("Dog Days", AT/DE), Seidl presented his first unambiguous feature film in 2001, in which actors play fictional characters. In several storylines, the film tells of the human abysses that become visible on a blisteringly hot summer day in a seemingly idyllic Viennese suburb. "Hundstage" premiered at the Venice Film Festival, received very positive reviews and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize; other festival prizes and a nomination for the European Film Award followed.
"Jesus, du weißt" ("Jesus, You Know", AT) followed Seidl's documentary approach again: in it he portrayed six strictly devout Catholics who regularly hold discourses with God or Jesus and pour out their entire hearts to them. The film received the Vienna Film Prize at the Viennale 2003 as well as the Documentary Film Prize at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Also in 2003, he founded Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion GmbH and realized the feature film "Import/Export", which celebrated its world premiere in the competition at Cannes in 2007. The drama centers on a young, unemployed and indebted man from Vienna who takes a dubious job with his vulgar stepfather, and a young mother from Ukraine who wants to earn money in Austria for her son who has remained in his homeland. This film also received almost universally very positive reviews.
Seidl then tackled a film trilogy: the first part, "Paradies: Liebe" ("Paradise: Love", AT/DE/F), about a lonely, aging woman who hopes for true love as a sex tourist in Kenya, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Already in August of the same year, the second part, "Paradies: Glaube"("Paradise: Faith", AT/DE/F), was screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, where it received the Special Jury Prize. At the same time, the drama about the lonely, strictly religious sister of the protagonist from "Paradies: Liebe," who is erotically attracted to Jesus in her faith, caused controversy because of the subject matter.
"Paradies: Hoffnung" ("Paradise: Hope", AT/DE/F), the last part of the trilogy, screened in competition at the Berlinale in 2013. It centers on a teenage girl (the daughter of the protagonist from "Paradies: Liebe") who spends her vacation at a diet camp where she falls in love with a 40-year-old doctor.
In the next few years, Seidl again shot two documentaries: For "Im Keller" ("In the Basement", AT 2014) he visited people who live out their very personal obsessions in their cellars. The scenes in which several men meet in a cellar decorated with Nazi devotional objects in Marz, Austria, caused a scandal because two of them were ÖVP local council members; they resigned a short time later. In "Safari" (AT 2018), Seidl had a wide variety of people talk about their passion as big-game hunters. In addition, Seidl was also active as a producer, for example on the horror film "Ich seh Ich seh" ("Goodnight Mommy", AT 2014) and on the satirical farce "Die Kinder der Toten" ("The Children of the Dead", AT 2019).
In competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022, Seidl presented the feature film "Rimini" (AT/DE/FR/IT), a character and milieu study about a washed-up pop singer (Michael Thomas) who keeps his head above water by performing in wintry Rimini. In the sequel "Sparta" (AT/DE/FR/IT 2022), Seidl told the story of his brother (Georg Friedrich). However, even before the premiere of "Sparta" there was a scandal when, at the beginning of September 2022, the news magazine Der Spiegel published accusations that underage amateur actors had been exploited and treated in an irresponsible manner during filming in Romania. Seidl vehemently contradicted the article, saying that it would assemble the facts "into a distorted picture that in no way corresponds to the facts." Nevertheless, the world premiere of "Sparta" at the Toronto International Film Festival (Canada) was canceled. Instead, it took place at the San Sebastián Festival (Spain), where the film was originally scheduled to screen as a European premiere. While "Rimini" opened in German theaters in October 2022, a start for "Sparta" initially remained open. Eventually, the dust settled, and "Sparta" was released in May 2023.