diff --git a/src/org/python/core/imp.java b/src/org/python/core/imp.java
--- a/src/org/python/core/imp.java
+++ b/src/org/python/core/imp.java
@@ -1014,6 +1014,9 @@
         for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++) {
             PyObject submod = module.__findattr__(names[i]);
             if (submod == null) {
+                submod = module.impAttr(names[i]);
+            }
+            if (submod == null) {
                 throw Py.ImportError("cannot import name " + names[i]);
             }
             submods[i] = submod;