Import Export Import Export

Import: Olga, a young nurse in Ukraine, looks for a better life in the West. She emigrates to Austria and becomes a cleaning lady in a geriatric hospital, where an 82-year-old patient proposes to her.

Export: Paul, a young Austrian ex-security guard, is looking for a reason to get up in the mornings and heads East with his stepfather to try his luck. They end up in Slovakia and later on in the Ukraine, where alcohol and girls are abundant.

“Every film of mine has its own laws and none of them comes easily to me. For years I have wanted to make a film in Eastern Europe, because I feel very close to the people there. So I began writing stories that move from East to West and West to East. My scripts are only outlines for what to shoot. At some point the filming begins and my crew and I start on a journey. The journey has a destination but nobody knows the route it will take to get there. For me making a film is always a strenuous process and often involves a lot of suffering. I don’t make it easy for myself or my collaborators; each of my films is an adventure that I have to fight hard for.”