Stefan Schaefer

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Stefan Schaefer (born August 17, 1971) is an American writer, director and producer of independent films. He was born in Boston, spent his childhood in Sussex, England and his adolescent years in Detroit and New York. He studied acting and political theory at Skidmore College and Wesleyan University, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Following a year and a half in Germany - where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar and worked as a journalist - he returned to New York and co-founded the production company Cicala Filmworks.

Confess, his debut feature film, premiered at the 2005 Hamptons International Film Festival, where he won the Best Screenwriter award. The political thriller stars Eugene Byrd, Ali Larter, Melissa Leo, William Sadler and Glenn Fitzgerald. The film is distributed by New Films International and MTI Home Video.

In 2006 he directed and produced 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. Produced together with Transportation Alternatives and Lime Wire founder Mark Gorton, the film screened widely at international environmental film festivals and will air as part of "The Green" series on the Sundance Channel.

In 2007 he wrote, co-directed and produced Arranged, his second feature film, starring Zoe Lister-Jones, Francis Benhamou, Marcia Jean Kurtz, John Rothman, Mimi Lieber and Daniel London. The film premiered at the 2007 South by Southwest Film Festival, won top prizes at The Berkshire International Film Festival and The Brooklyn International Film Festival, and was picked up for distribution by New York-based Film Movement.

Schaefer also collaborated as a writer, actor and co-producer on the film The Higher Force, directed by Icelandic filmmaker Olaf de Fleur Johannesson and starring Michael Imperioli. The film shot in Reykjavík, Iceland in April and May 2007. Another collaboration with Olaf de Fleur is The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela, which world premiered at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival.

Schaefer lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children, and serves on the Board of the Brooklyn Waldorf School.