Ulrich Maria Seidl (born 24 November 1952) is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, writer and producer. Among other awards, his film ''

Dog Days The dog days or are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius (known colloquially as the "Dog Star"), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, ...

'' won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice in 2001. His 2012 film '' Paradise: Love'' competed for the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Austrian filmma ...

. The sequel '' Paradise: Faith'' won the Special Jury Prize at the

69th Venice International Film Festival The 69th annual Venice International Film Festival, was held from 29 August to 8 September 2012, at Venice Lido in Italy. American filmmaker Michael Mann was the jury president for the main competition. Polish actress Kasia Smutniak was the H ...

. The final part of the trilogy, '' Paradise: Hope'', premiered in competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.

Biography

Seidl grew up in a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

family. Although at one point he wanted to become a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, he studied journalism and drama at

Vienna University The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

instead. Afterwards, he studied film-making at the Vienna Film Academy where he produced his first short, ''One-Forty''. Two years later he produced his first full-length film, ''The Ball''. His 2001 film ''

'' was shot over three years during the hottest days of summer. He is married to Veronika Franz, an Austrian filmmaker well known for her

psychological horror Psychological horror is a genre, subgenre of horror fiction, horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and Mental state, psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre freque ...

features ''

Goodnight Mommy ''Goodnight Mommy'' (; UK: ''Goodnight Mummy'') is a 2014 Austrian psychological horror film, written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. The film stars Susanne Wuest and twin actors Elias and Lukas Schwarz, and follows the com ...

'' (2014) and '' The Lodge'' (2019), which she both co-directed and co-wrote with their nephew Severin Fiala. In 2005 Seidl was a member of the jury at the

27th Moscow International Film Festival The 27th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 17 to 26 July 2005. The Golden George was awarded to the Russian film '' Dreaming of Space'' directed by Alexei Uchitel. Jury * Valentin Chernykh (Russia – Head of the Jury) * Nicol ...

. He was scheduled to attend the 2014

Jerusalem Film Festival The Jerusalem Film Festival (, ) is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, It was established in 1984 by the Director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Israeli Film Archive, Lia van Leer, Lia Van Leer, and has since become th ...

, but cancelled his visit due to the political tension in the region.

Style

Ulrich does not consider himself a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

filmmaker, but several of his films often blend fiction and nonfiction. Several of his films are set in his home country, Austria.

Filmography

As director * 1980 ''One Forty'' (''Einsvierzig'') (short) * 1982 ''The Prom'' (''Der Ball'') (short) * 1990 ''Good News'' * 1992 '' Losses to Be Expected'' (''Mit Verlust ist zu rechnen'') * 1994 ''The Last Men'' (''Die letzten Männer'') (TV) * 1995 '' Animal Love'' (''Tierische Liebe'') * 1996 ''Pictures at an Exhibition'' (''Bilder einer Ausstellung'') (TV) * 1997 ''The Bosom Friend'' (''Der Busenfreund'') (TV) * 1998 ''Fun without Limits'' (''Spass ohne Grenzen'') (TV) * 1999 ''

Models A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided int ...

'' * 2001 ''

'' (''Hundstage'') * 2002 ''State of the Nation'' (''Zur Lage'') * 2003 '' Jesus, You Know'' (''Jesus, Du weisst'') * 2004 ''Our Father'' (''Vater unser'') (filmed stage play) * 2006 ''Brothers, Let Us Be Merry'' (''Brüder, laßt uns lustig sein'') (short) * 2007 '' Import/Export'' * 2012 '' Paradise trilogy'' (''Paradies'') ** '' Paradise: Love'' (''Paradies: Liebe'') ** '' Paradise: Faith'' (''Paradies: Glaube'') ** '' Paradise: Hope'' (''Paradies: Hoffnung'') * 2014 ''

In the Basement ''In the Basement'' is a live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded soun ...

'' (''Im Keller'') * 2016 ''

Safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

'' * 2022 ''

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

'' * 2022 ''

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

'' As producer * 2014 ''

'' * 2019 '' Lillian'' * 2021 '' Luzifer'' * 2024 '' Veni Vidi Vici'' * 2024 ''

The Devil's Bath ''The Devil's Bath'' () is a 2024 historical horror drama film written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, and starring Anja Plaschg. The film is based on the book ''Suicide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany: Crime, Sin and Salva ...

Awards

* IDF Amsterdam Special Jury Prize - 1993 ''Loss Is to Be Expected'' * Sarajevo Audience Award - 1999 ''Models'' * Gijón Grand Prix Asturias - 2001 ''

'' * Venice Silver Lion - 2001 ''

'' * Karlovy Vary Best Feature Documentary - 2003 ''Jesus, You Know''

References

External links

Official website
* 1952 births German-language film directors Living people Austrian film directors Austrian screenwriters Austrian male screenwriters {{Austria-film-director-stub