Kurt Engfehr grew up in a working class suburb of Detroit, neighboring an EPA Superfund waste site. He initially avoided a career in manufacturing after a friend lost his finger in a band saw accident. This encounter led Kurt to reconsider his future, as he didn't want to end up in a similar situation. He then decided to leave Detroit, seeking opportunities elsewhere.
Kurt's journey took him across the country, where he struggled and failed in various endeavors. Eventually, he settled in New York City, where he began working as a staff Avid editor for HBO, MSNBC, and the National Video Center. His editing work spanned multiple networks, including Lifetime, CBS, and ABC, as well as creating short films featuring a guitar-playing penguin from Chernobyl.
Kurt's breakthrough came when he worked as a senior editor on Michael Moore's Emmy-nominated show, The Awful Truth. This experience led to his involvement in Moore's film, Bowling for Columbine, for which he won the American Cinema Editors award for best documentary editing. The trophy proudly sits on his mantle, alongside a 3rd place Thanksgiving Day Bowling Tournament trophy from 1987.
Undeterred by his success, Kurt continued to work on various projects. He co-produced and edited the documentary A League of Ordinary Gentlemen, which won the Audience Award at the 2004 SXSW Film Festival. His next endeavor was Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11, which turned out well.
Kurt's subsequent projects included Seamless, a fashion documentary directed by Doug Keeve, and Angelina Jolie's directing debut, A Place in Time, which remains unseen, collecting dust in her closet. He co-produced and edited numerous films, including Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, Trumbo, A People Uncounted, Just Do It, Reject, Wrenched, and Red Army.
Kurt co-directed The Yes Men Fix The World, which won the audience award at Berlin and aired on HBO. He also worked on Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, a humorous documentary about weight loss and self-realization, which gained an online following of over 20 million people and spawned an online community of over 1.25 million people.
Subsequently, Kurt became the Creative Director for Reboot Media, where he wrote and directed Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead 2 and The Kids Menu over the course of three years.
Kurt then ventured into production, creating No Manifesto, a film about the band Manic Street Preachers, which Rolling Stone Magazine called "The best band you never heard of." The film had a successful theatrical run in the UK and is currently available for purchase at Canal Street in NYC for $2.35.
Kurt's most recent project was LBJ: What The Hell Is The Presidency For?, a documentary for the History Channel.
