by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor Not nearly as well known as his countryman Michael Haneke, the Austrian film director Ulrich Seidl has his own individual signature as a chronicler of human truth. His films are, in turns, disturbing and paradoxical, difficult and dispassionate and not easy to classify. Mixing documentary realism with a kind of poetic neo-realism, the director mainly uses non-professional actors to give his film essays an essential core of...

Not nearly as well known as his countryman Michael Haneke, the Austrian film director Ulrich Seidl has his own individual signature as a chronicler of human truth. His films are, in turns, disturbing and paradoxical, difficult and dispassionate and not easy to classify. Mixing documentary realism with a kind of poetic neo-realism, the director mainly uses non-professional actors to give his film essays an essential core of truth. Seidl will receive his first ever retrospective in the United Stat...

Import Export, presented in Competition, marks the return of the Austrian director Ulrich Seidl to Cannes, five years after having presented his startling Dog Days. His new film tells the story of two characters on opposite tracks: a young Ukrainian nurse who goes to Austria to find employment, and a young Austrian man who settles in Ukraine, also to earn a livelihood. Shot in extreme conditions, at temperatures of 20°F below zero, Import Export features the work of two amateur actors, Ekateryb...