Cast

Ekateryna Rak appears on camera for the first time in IMPORT EXPORT. She was found during a long casting process in the Ukraine. Originally a nurse, she plays one in the film. The 28-year-old now acts on stage in Nikolaev (eastern Ukraine) in such roles as Snow White. Before IMPORT EXPORT Ekateryna Rak had never visited Western Europe, and she only learned German for her part.

Paul Hofmann loves fighting and fighting dogs. The native of Vienna left his parents’ home at 14 and has led a turbulent life ever since. He does not have a fixed address, he often changes phone numbers, and he once served a jail sentence for minor offences. He believes in true love and is waiting for it.

Michael Thomas The son of cabaret artist Fred Weis and actress Tilla Hohenfels, in his youth he worked as a sailor and bouncer. For 18 years he has played the part of Old Shatterhand, and is thus in this field the dean of German-speaking actors. He’s an all-round talent as actor, singer, author and runner-up state boxing champion.

Maria Hofstätter After her award-winning performance as a hitchhiker in Seidl’s first feature “Dog Days”, she donned a nurse’s uniform and worked day and night shifts in a geriatric ward to prepare for her role in IMPORT EXPORT. She changed diapers and false teeth and was soon affectionately known to staff and patients as Sister maria.

Georg Friedrich is someone I want in all my films, says Ulrich Seidl. Since “Dog Days” Friedrich has appeared on screen in some twenty films. In IMPORT EXPORT, the Vienna native plays a nursing assistant. He found the model for his role in a real hospital worker with a real dog in a Vienna geriatric ward, and he found his way into his part by changing diapers.

Natalija Baranova, a native of Latvia from riga has already appeared in several films, including Andrei Chernykh’s “Avstriyskoe Pole” and Barbara Gräftner’s “Mein Russland” [My Russia]. She plays Olga’s Ukrainian friend in the Internet sex agency. Baranova, who studied German in Vienna, is currently working as a waitress.

Natalia Epureanu Olga‘s friend in Vienna was a gym teacher in her native moldavia. In Vienna she worked as a cleaning lady and a zoo keeper. Her story is similar to Olga’s: she left her child behind in moldavia, lived in Austria illegally, sent for her daughter to join her years later and now has made a life for herself.

Erich Finsches has been many things in his life: self-service restaurant owner, market salesman, taxi driver, drink manufacturer, and actor in “Dog Days”. Today he receives a disability pension and owns an apartment building. For IMPORT EXPORT he took his place in bed among the patients in a geriatric hospital and was the first person to die in an Ulrich Seidl film.