Talk:Stefan Schaefer

COI tag (February 2024)

Heavily edited by user who appears to have a COI with this and Chenta Laury Melcous (talk) 10:47, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

I've proofread this article, and none of the information seems to be written subjectively. I'm not sure if the COI edits have already been fixed or something, but as far as I can tell there isn't any issue with the article currently. I believe the COI template should be removed, but I'll let someone else with more experience do it, just in case I'm wrong. DiamondPVPr (talk) 18:36, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

Correction to lead description

I am the subject of this article and therefore have a conflict of interest. I am requesting a small correction rather than editing the article directly.

Please replace:

“Stefan Schaefer (born August 17, 1971) is an American filmmaker and entrepreneur.”

with:

“Stefan Schaefer (born August 17, 1971) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.”

“Entrepreneur” is not a description I use professionally, and the article contains no independent source establishing entrepreneurship as a significant aspect of my career. The proposed description agrees with the occupations in the infobox and with independent coverage identifying me as a writer and director, including Variety, IndieWire, PBS and The Austin Chronicle.

Sources:

• https://variety.com/2005/film/reviews/confess-1200520448/
• https://www.indiewire.com/news/general/emerging-visions-class-of-2007-stefan-schaefer-arranged-221597/
• https://www.pbs.org/wnet/w-s-merwin-to-plant-a-tree/about-the-film/
• https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/looking-more-closely-when-others-look-away-11728692/

Thank you. ~2026-46963-63 (talk) 05:59, 29 August 2026 (UTC)

Sounds reasonable.  Done Altamel (talk) 06:16, 29 August 2026 (UTC)

Request for review of COI tag

I am the subject of this article and will continue to avoid editing it directly.

Could an uninvolved editor please review whether the conflict-of-interest maintenance tag is still necessary? In the earlier “COI tag (February 2024)” discussion, an uninvolved editor, DiamondPVPr, reviewed the article and wrote:

“I've proofread this article, and none of the information seems to be written subjectively... I believe the COI template should be removed.”

I have also used the COI edit-request process for my recent factual correction rather than editing the article directly.

I am not requesting removal of the separate BLP sourcing tag at this time; I recognize that the article’s citations still require additional work. This request concerns only the COI tag and whether the article currently has a neutrality problem warranting that banner.

Thank you. ~2026-46963-63 (talk) 00:53, 30 August 2026 (UTC)

Done I'm happy to remove the tag as past edits have resolved the issue, I've marked where citations need improvement as some of the claims cannot be verified. Aloneinthewild (talk) 17:14, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

Edit request - career section

I am the subject of this article and therefore have a conflict of interest. I am requesting an expansion and revision of the Career section rather than editing the article directly.

The present section covers only a small portion of my film career. I propose replacing the existing Career section with the following neutral, chronological text. I welcome any editorial adjustments an uninvolved editor considers appropriate.

Proposed replacement Career section:

Schaefer participated in the 2003 edition of the Berlinale Talent Campus, now known as Berlinale Talents; the program was established that year. In 2003, he met Icelandic filmmaker Olaf de Fleur Johannesson, with whom he later collaborated on several projects.

Schaefer wrote and directed the feature film Confess (2005), whose cast included Eugene Byrd, Ali Larter, Melissa Leo and David Harbour. The film premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival, where it received the festival's screenwriting prize.

In 2007, Schaefer wrote, produced and co-directed Arranged with Diane Crespo. The film screened at South by Southwest and later received the Best of Fest Audience Award at the Berkshire International Film Festival. It won the Grand Chameleon Award and the award for Best Narrative Feature at the Brooklyn International Film Festival. In 2008, Arranged won the Grand Prize in the international feature competition at Japan's Skip City International D-Cinema Festival. The film was released in the United States by Film Movement, with international sales handled by Visit Films, and was subsequently made available through Netflix.

Schaefer co-wrote, produced and appeared in Johannesson's The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela. The film screened in the Panorama section of the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival and won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film. Schaefer later co-wrote, produced and appeared in Johannesson's The Higher Force, which had its European premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2009.

Schaefer also produced Michael Imperioli's feature directorial debut, The Hungry Ghosts, which had its world premiere in the Tiger Awards competition at Rotterdam in 2009.

Schaefer directed and co-wrote with Christoph Silber the German-American feature My Last Day Without You, starring Nicole Beharie and Ken Duken. The film had its world premiere at the 2011 Brooklyn International Film Festival, where its producers received the festival's Best Producer award. Its subsequent festival run included the Oldenburg International Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival, Hawaiʻi International Film Festival and Atlanta Film Festival. In October 2013, the film received a limited United States theatrical release at AMC theaters in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, Chicago and New Orleans. A German-language version was released theatrically in Germany and incorporated into a 17-part television series carried by Hope Channel in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The film was added to Netflix in the United States in 2016.

Schaefer and Silber also co-wrote four German television films for ARD and ZDF: Nicht mit mir, Liebling (2012), Das Paradies in uns (2013), Wer liebt, lässt los (2013) and Blauwasserleben (2015).

Schaefer also wrote and directed the Maui-set comedy Aloha Surf Hotel. The film had its world premiere at the 2020 Hawaiʻi International Film Festival and subsequently had a five-month statewide theatrical run in Consolidated and Regal cinemas. It was nominated for Best Hawaiʻi Film by the Hawaiʻi Film Critics Society.

Schaefer directed the documentary Contested Streets: Breaking New York City Gridlock. In 2007, the Sundance Channel acquired the film for its environmental programming block The Green.

Schaefer later directed and produced Even Though the Whole World Is Burning, a feature documentary about former United States Poet Laureate, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and environmentalist W. S. Merwin. The film premiered at the Maui Film Festival in 2014 and subsequently screened at festivals including the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival, Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, DOXA Documentary Film Festival and International Buddhist Film Festival. A one-hour version, W. S. Merwin: To Plant a Tree, was produced by Cicala Filmworks in association with WNET and made available to PBS stations nationwide in 2016.

In 2026, Schaefer served as festival producer for the inaugural Wailuku Film Festival. The five-day Maui festival presented more than 100 films.

References

Thank you. ~2026-46963-63 (talk) 22:06, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

Your edit request could not be reviewed because it is unclear which references are connected to which claim statements in the text of your proposal. When proposing edit requests it is important to highlight in the text, through the use of ref tags, which specific sources are doing the referencing for each claim. The point of these inline ref tags is to allow the reviewer and readers to check that the material is sourced. Please edit your request then feel free to re-submit.

Aloneinthewild (talk) 12:46, 5 September 2026 (UTC)