Eckhart Schmidt Movies
- 2003
German filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt tracks down many high-profile Italian movie folks for the documentary portrait Federico Fellini: Through the Eyes of Others. Actresses Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée, and Sandra Milo provide commentary about the director's behavior on and off the set. Other interview subjects include screenwriter Tullio Pinelli, producer Dino de Laurentiis, cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, biographer Tullio Kezich, and novelist Gore Vidal. The film also employs archive footage and film clips. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Aimée, Dino de Laurentiis, (more)
- 2002
Produced and directed by seven Munich Film School students, Honolulu takes place not in Hawaii, but inside of a rural town just outside of Munich, Germany. Several vignettes, lasting approximately 10 to 15 minutes each, are connected by one of the town's public bus routes, outside of which two men (Stefan Maass and Jochen Nickel) booze the night away while waiting for the bus to make its rounds. There is a brief encounter between a shy young man (Daniel Bruehl) and notorious party girl Chiara Schoras), as well as a strange meeting of an eccentric Slav (Aleksandar Jovanovi) and a girl (Julia Hummer) who is fresh from a break-up with her former boyfriend. Other characters work their way into the plot, including lesbian bus driver with dreams of leaving the country for Honolulu, a smooth-talking and slightly unbalanced young man who puts the moves on a shy bride-to-be, and a Middle Eastern immigrant who finds himself comforting a lonely rich girl on her birthday. Honolulu also features Anna Thalbach, Markus Knuefken, Mehdi Moinzadeh, and Alexandra Maria Lara.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stefan Maass, Jochen Nickel, (more)
- 1994
This German fantasy follows a young man's quest to understand his bizarre childhood. Much of the film was shot on location in Italy. Daniel has returned to his hometown in Italy with Clara, his lover, for a romantic vacation. Clara is disturbed by Daniel's recently strange behavior which includes sneaking into the estate of Coppola, an enigmatic business Tycoon. Daniel's father was killed in an industrial accident at the company Coppola owned. His flashbacks seem to have lead him to the estate. There Daniel becomes obsessed with Coppola's gorgeous, but remote daughter Olimpia who wafts around the estate wearing slinky lingerie. After Daniel's double obsession shows no sign of waning Clara gets angry and returns to Venice. Daniel finally gets close to Olimpia only to discover that she is a sophisticated robot produced at Coppola's factory--the factory where Daniel's daddy died. Now Daniel is determined to discover Olimpia's inner workings, and kill the obviously demented Coppola. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorenzo Flaherty, Stella Vordemann, (more)
- 1982
In this 90-minute film by director, writer, and film-critic Eckhardt Schmidt, the hero-worship that Simone (Desiree Nosbusch) has for a pop singer is built to a crescendo until she passes out when she finally sees him up-close in a crowd of fans pushing him for autographs. After she regains consciousness, she discovers that she is in the singer's dressing room and is shocked as he lets her know that he does not love her. In an instant, she is caught "in a trance" and feels a murderous urge that is bigger than the both of them. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Desiree Nosbusch
- 1967
A worried American girl travels to Germany to locate her missing brother who has not been heard of for several months. Upon her arrival, she is charmed by an egocentric fashion photographer who entices her to fall in love with him. He mistreats her and is unfaithful, but the smitten girl can't break away from him. Her moral convictions change in her new environment. Even though she discovers the man was partly responsible for her brothers death, the amoral amorous American girl chooses to stay with him in this unlikely story of possessive love. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Fritz, Juergen Draeger, (more)
