Biography

Eckhart Schmidt was from Sternberg, Moravia [now Czech Republic]. He was a director, writer, producer, photographer and journalist. Eckhart Schmidt was a film critic at Süddeutsche Zeitung and belonged to a group of young German filmmakers called Neue Münchener Gruppe (NMG). Unlike other contemporary German film associations the NMG was more commercially focused and targeting the young audience. Schmidt's early works often explored the sexual tension and fantasies among young people on the make. In 1978 he created the punk magazine "Die Sau". A lot of cutting-edge musicians wrote for it, like David Byrne, Devo, and Patti Smith. Eckhart Schmidt's commercial breakthrough in the movies was "Der Fan" (1982), which tells the story of a girl obsessed with a pop star. In the mid-'90s he started making television documentaries. Over the course of his career, Schmidt directed 22 feature films and at least 79 documentaries and wrote 16 books.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ulf Kjell Gür

Member of the New Munich Group.

In 2007, he mentioned that "Sunset Motel" (2003) will probably be his last feature and that he isn't interested in directing feature films anymore.

Is a big fan of Douglas Sirk and dedicated two documentaries, "Douglas Sirk: Über Stars" (1980) and "Nach Hollywood - Douglas Sirk erzählt" (1991) to him as well as his spiritual melodrama "Das Wunder" (1985) which he called a homage to Sirk's style of storytelling.

Was one of the first in Germany to write about directors such as Douglas Sirk and Jean-Pierre Melville.

Began his career as a film critic for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and also for the BR.