Stefan Kurt Movies

Sixty years after the fall of the Third Reich, German filmmaker Dani Levy takes the bold step of playing the most notorious man of the 20th century for laughs in this offbeat historical comedy. In December 1944, the war in Europe is in its final stages; Germany has been decimated by Allied attacks, and the Third Reich is fated to collapse in just a few months. With the Nazi empire in tatters, Adolf Hitler (Helge Schneider) is understandably depressed, and while he's scheduled to give a major address to the nation on New Year's Day, he can barely summon up the enthusiasm to get out of bed. Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth), Hitler's propaganda czar, realizes the Führer needs some help to get out of his funk, and thinks some coaching from a trained actor would help him put on a brave face for his big speech. Goebbels approaches Adolf Grünbaum (Ulrich Mühe), one of Germany's most respected thespians, and asks him if he'd be willing to help Hitler prepare for his address; since Grünbaum is Jewish and currently residing in a concentration camp, he jumps at the chance, provided his wife and children are also released and the camp is shut down before the next round of executions. While Goebbels and his men have no intention of honoring Grünbaum's latter request, they are willing to free his loved ones, and soon Grünbaum is spending his days with the emotionally immature dictator as he tries to help him get back on his feet. Meanwhile, Goebbels and SS leader Heinrich Himmler (Ulrich Noethen) suspect that Hitler may be too far gone for help and start hatching a backup plan, in which they'll kill the Führer in a phony accident and seize control of the Reich. No stranger to controversy, writer and directory Levy's previous project was Go for Zucker, a comedy which poked fun at the division of Berlin during the Cold War and one man's opportunistic embrace of Orthodox Judaism. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In the wake of the Taliban's call for the destruction of all non-Islamic-related statues in February of 2001, the world was robbed of two of its most remarkable landmarks. Despite international outrage, two stone Buddhas -- one measuring 53 meters tall -- were hastily turned to rubble by Islamic fundamentalists. In the aftermath, Swiss filmmaker Christian Frei ventures to Afghanistan's Bamiyan valley in an effort to comprehend the destruction while studying the history of the legendary statues and questioning how anger combined with hypocrisy failed to save two of the planet's most treasured landmarks. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Maria von Heland makes her feature-length directorial debut with the teen drama Grosse Mädchen Weinen Nicht (Big Girls Don't Cry). Set in Berlin, where traditional and poor Kati (Anna Maria Muhe) is best friends with liberal and wealthy Steffi (Karoline Herfurth). When they spot Steffi's father, Hans (Stefan Kurt), kissing another woman (Teresa Harder), the two girls plan a scheme of revenge. They make friends with the other woman's daughter, Tessa (Josefine Domes), only to set her up in a dangerous situation with a pornographer (Dieter Laser). As Steffi begins to experiment with drugs and sex, her friendship with Kati becomes increasingly strained. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Two lonely people find each other without meeting face to face in this romantic drama. Gregor (Ben Becker) is a disc jockey at a radio station who has never quite gotten over his breakup with his former girlfriend; they played together in a rock band, and she's since gone on to stardom, while he's stuck in an on-and-off relationship with co-worker Lily (Catrin Strieback), though they both know there's no future in it. Somewhere else in town, Mai (Isabella Parkinson) is in love with Nick (Nicolas von Wacherbarth), but Nick only has eyes for Mai's roommate Anne (Nele Muller-Stofen), leaving Mai depressed and at odds about what to do. One night, while Gregor is playing a song that has always reminded him of his ex, Mai is listening as she narrowly avoids an auto accident that could have easily taken her life. Mai finds that the song is stuck in her memory, and she sends an e-mail to him asking for details about the tune, claiming she knew the former girlfriend that he mentioned. Soon the two are sending each other messages on a regular basis, and they find themselves wondering if you can fall in love with a person you've never actually met. Frau2 Sucht Happyend is a remake of the South Korean hit Cheob-sok. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Clemens Klopfenstein directs this oblique, strikingly-shot film about actors in groups of two and three on their way to the Goethe Institute in Rome. Throughout the film, actors recite lines from Chekov, Gorky, Shaw, and Shakespeare against scenes of stunning natural beauty. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A naive girl's love for Switzerland is put to the test in this satiric comedy. Irina (Yelena Panova) is a woman from Russia who all her life has always been fascinated by Switzerland and longs to live there some day, though her notion of Swiss life has more to do with Heidi and old movies set in the Alps than reality. So when fashion designer Charlotte De (Geraldine Chaplin) and lawyer Alfred Waldvogel (Ulrich Noethen) offer Irina a chance to live in Switzerland and gain the Swiss passport she's always dreamed of, she leaps at the chance. Never mind that she's actually working for them as a prostitute, catering to the sexual appetites of the slimier members of the Swiss upper crust -- she's simply delighted to be there and nothing bothers her a bit. However, just as Irina's about to gain her cherished passport, her "sponsors" decide she's outlived her usefulness and send her back home. She responds by blowing the whistle on Charlotte and Alfred, which in turn sends a shock wave through the nation's social and political foundations. Beresina was noted for its barbed wit, clever production design, and a fine comic performance by Yelena Panova when it was screened in the "Un Certain Regard" category at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this Swiss noir-styled thriller, shot in high-contrast black-and-white, insurance broker Karl (Stefan Kurt) is on a deserted street at night when he sees a body on the sidewalk. Fleeing the scene is blonde Martha (Susanne Luening), who returns and soon becomes very involved in Karl's life. According to the paranoid Martha, she's being pursued by a strange group, the Inhumans. Are they actually prowling the basement of the hospital where she works? Shown in 1997 at the Locarno and Toronto film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi