Born in Vienna in 1952 and raised in a strictly Catholic family, Ulrich Seidl studied at the Vienna film academy and founded his own company with Veronika Franz in 2003. He blends documentary and staged scenes in unsparing portraits of Austrian life, from Models (1999) and Dog Days (2001), which won a prize at Venice, to Import/Export (2007), the Paradise trilogy (2012-13), In the Basement (2014) and Rimini (2022). Sparta (2022) was surrounded by allegations about the treatment of child amateur actors, which he denied.
Filmography
- Models (1999)
- Dog Days (2001)
- Import/Export (2007)
- Paradise: Love (2012)
- Paradise: Faith (2012)
- Paradise: Hope (2013)
- In the Basement (2014)