People in a big city. People in Vienna. Lonely people. People whose dogs, rats, rabbits and other pets serve as conversation partners, life partners, objects to be petted and bedmates. In 1994 Ulrich Seidl's third feature sparked a scandal in Austria and garnered bad reviews, but abroad it became an acclaimed cult film. Even today Animal Love is seen as one of the most disturbing films in the Seidl universe. "Never in the movies have I looked so directly into hell," commented Werner Herzog uponviewing the film.
Austria 1995 | 114 min | German | Super 16mm | 35mm blow up | 1:1.66
Screenplay and Director: Ulrich Seidl | Camera: Peter Zeitlinger, Michael Glawogger | Sound: Ekkehart Baumung | Editor: Christof Schertenleib | Assistant director: Eva Roth | Unit manager: Werner Boote | Production manager: Max Linder | Producer: Erich Lackner | Cast: Hubert Scholz, Ernst Schönmann, Franz Holzschuh, Erich Wögerer, Fritzl Schmied, Gabi Tairi, Christina Yildiz, Franz Dolesch, Gerti Zieger, Peter Kristek, Stefanie Renée Felden
Production company: LOTUS FILM GesmbH | Mollardgasse 85a, Stiege 1 | 1060 Vienna, Austria
T +43 1 7863387 | F +43 1 7863387 - 11 | E office@lotus-film.at | www.lotus-film.at
Austrian distributor: Polyfilm | Margaretenstraße 78 | 1050 Vienna, Austria
T +43 1 581390020 | F +43 158390039 | E polyfilm@polyfilm.at | www.polyfilm.at
World sales: Coproduction Office | 24, rue Lamartine | 75009 Paris, France
T +33 1 56026000 | F +33 1 56026001 | E sales@coproductionoffice.eu | www.coproductionoffice.eu
With support from: Austrian Film Institute, ORF (Film/Fernseh-Abkommen), WFF - Wiener Filmfinanzierungsfonds, Kulturabteilung des Landes Niederösterreich | In collaboration with Selikovsky-Filmproduktion
"The original idea for the film was very radical: I imagined a film in which a man or a woman do with their pet all the things that a married couple would do: talk, eat, cuddle, give each other attention, go to bed together. And in the entire film there would be no communication between people." – Ulrich Seidl
"Never in the movies have I looked so directly into hell."
Werner Herzog
"More coldness, loneliness and horror in a single film is inconceivable."
Tiroler Tageszeitung
Awards
"Best Documentary", Potsdam, 1996
Festivals
World Premiere: Diagonale, Salzburg 1995
Kommunalkino Bremen, Munich International Filmwoche, 25th Unabhängiges FilmFest Osnabrück, Taipei Film House - Les spectacles du réel, Kulturforum/Bucharest, Cineteca Nacional/Mexico, Motovun FF, Thessaloniki IFF, New Horizons IFF, Indielisboa, Jenjou IFF/Seoul, Deutsches Filminstitut, Taipei FF, Diagonale, Saarbrücken, Rotterdam, Selb, Nyon, Potsdam, San Sebastian, Paris, London, Oslo, Florence, Dublin, Toronto IFF
Pressbook PDF: german/english
Folder: PDF
Pressphotos: 10x15cm / 300dpi / jpg / each ca 500kb
© Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion
