| Birth Name: | Stefan Schaefer |
| Birth Date: | 17 August 1971 |
| Birth Place: | Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education: | Wesleyan University (BA) University of Kiel (Fulbright Scholar) |
| Spouse: | Chenta Laury |
| Children: | 2 |
Stefan Schaefer is an American writer, director and producer of films and television.
Schaefer was born in Boston, spent his childhood in Sussex, England, and his adolescent years in Michigan and New York. He studied theater and political theory at Wesleyan University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. After a year and a half in Germany—where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Kiel—he returned to New York and co-founded the production company Cicala Filmworks.
He is the maternal grandson of polar explorer and ornithologist Carl R. Eklund.
Schaefer's films have premiered and won awards at festivals such as the Berlin International Film Festival and SxSW, and have been released theatrically and via outlets such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO, PBS and the Sundance Channel.
He has over fifteen feature film credits to his name and has worked with Melissa Leo, Ali Larter, Zoe Lister-Jones, Ken Duken, Nicole Beharie, David Harbour, and Michael Imperioli.[1] In addition to these indie features, Schaefer and writing partner Chris Silber wrote four TV movies for European networks ARD and ZDF, two of which filmed in Hawai’i.[2]
Schaefer directed the one-hour television documentary Contested Streets, which looks at what New York can learn from London, Paris and Copenhagen in terms of organizing its streets and public spaces. The film screened at environmental film festivals and aired as part of "The Green" series on the Sundance Channel.[3] In 2015, he released a feature documentary on Poet Laureate and environmental activist W.S. Merwin, entitled Even Though the Whole World Is Burning.[4] A one-hour version of the film, , was broadcast nationwide on PBS in 2016.
| 2005 | Confess | Director/writer | ||
| 2006 | Act Normal | Co-producer | ||
| Contested Streets | Director/producer/editor | Documentary | ||
| 2007 | Arranged[5] | Director/writer/producer | ||
| 2008 | The Higher Force | Writer/producer/actor | ||
| The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela | Writer/producer/actor | |||
| 2009 | The Hungry Ghosts | Producer/actor | ||
| 2011 | The Roundup | Director/writer/producer | Short film | |
| Get a Job[6] | Producer/actor | |||
| My Last Day Without You[7] | Director/writer/producer | |||
| 2014 | Even Though the Whole World Is Burning | Director/writer/producer | Documentary | |
| 2017 | Kuleana | Producer/actor | ||
| 2020 | Aloha Surf Hotel[8] | Director/writer/producer | ||
| 2023 | Viral | Director/co-writer/producer | Short film | |
| 2024 | Grit & Gratitude: The Sig Anderman Story | Director/writer/producer | Documentary |
| 2009 | Circledrawers[9] | Co-creator/producer/actor | |
| 2012 | First Lady / Nicht mit mir, Liebling | Writer | |
| 2013 | The Paradise Within / Das Paradies in uns | Writer | |
| To Love, Let Go / Wer liebt, lässt los | Writer | ||
| 2015 | Blue Water Living / Blauwasserleben | Writer | |
| 2016 | Surf Break Hotel | Director/writer/producer | |
| Director/writer/producer | |||
| 2018 | I Am Because You Are | Director/writer/producer |