Models

Vivian, Lisa, Tanja. Three models, three girlfriends, three rivals. They traipse from casting call to casting call; talk on the telephone for hours with girlfriends, men, mothers, agents and photographers; wait for bookings, mostly in vain; and spend their nights teetering from one disco to the next.

Models was Ulrich Seidl's last feature before his breakthrough, Dog Days. For many critics it marks his passage from documentary to fiction, though Seidl himself rejects the distinction."I make films," he says, "sometimes fiction films with documentary elements, and sometimes docs with fiction elements. Just films."

Seidl: "Directing had never been as hard for me as on this film. First, because models aren't used to people showing an interest in their human side. Second, because models are used to being treated badly. And third, because I was dealing with people who are used to being motivated to work only for money. But money can't be the basis for a productive collaboration on a film, as I see it."