Biography
Kurt Engfehr grew up next to an EPA Superfund waste site in a working class suburb of Detroit. He decided against a career in the plants when a friend had his finger ripped off by a band saw. Kurt saw the future, and it wasn't in Detroit. After living and failing all over the country, he settled in New York City where he worked at HBO, MSNBC and National Video Center (among other places) as a staff Avid editor. He edited promos and programs for Lifetime, CBS and ABC; he also created a series of short films featuring Chernobyl, the guitar playing penguin. Kurt was senior editor on Michael Moore's Emmy nominated show The Awful Truth. Kurt then segued from TV to film by working on Bowling for Columbine for which he won the American Cinema Editors award for best documentary editing. The trophy is proudly displayed on the mantle above the fireplace, right next to the last award he won, a 3rd place Thanksgiving Day Bowling Tournament trophy from 1987. Not being able to pry himself away from bowling, Kurt was co-producer and editor for the documentary A League of Ordinary Gentlemen, that won the Audience Award at the 2004 SXSW Film Festival. Kurt then decided he didn't need any rest and worked on Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. It turned out ok. Kurt then worked on Seamless, a movie about NY fashion directed by Doug Keeve, who previously made Unzipped, which most people found ironic considering just how much Kurt knows about fashion. He followed that up by editing Angelina Jolie's directing debut, the documentary A Place in Time, which can currently be seen by nobody as it sits in her closet. Kurt then followed that up by co-producing and editing numerous films such Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, Trumbo, A People Uncounted, Just Do It, Reject, Wrenched and Red Army.
Kurt then co-directed, The Yes Men Fix The World, which won the audience award at Berlin and aired on HBO and Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, a humorous doc about weight loss and self-realization that was released theatrically in 2011 and has become an on-line sensation, being seen by over 20 million people and spawning an on-line community consisting of over 1.25 million people.
He then became Creative Director for Reboot Media and over the course of three years, wrote and directed Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead 2 and The Kids Menu.
Kurt then actually produced a film, No Manifesto, about the band Manic Street Preachers who Rolling Stone Magazine called, "The best band you never heard of." It had a very successful theatrical run in the UK and is currently available on Canal Street in NYC for about $2.35.
His latest film was LBJ: What The Hell Is The Presidency For? for the History Channel.
