Philipp Stölzl

Directing

Philipp Stölzl

Born 1967-01-01 · München, Germany

Philipp Stölzl (born 1967 in Munich) is a German film director, opera director and screenwriter. He began to direct music videos in the mid 1990s and directed his first feature film in 2002. Philipp Stölzl was trained as a set and costume designer at the Münchner Kammerspielen where he graduated in 1988. He worked in these professions in German theatres and began to work for films in 1996. He debuted as director in 1998 with the music video for Rammstein's "Du riechst so gut". He has continued to direct videos for artists such as Mick Jagger, Marius Müller-Westernhagen, Madonna, and Garbage's Bond theme "The World Is Not Enough". He has also directed commercials. His first feature film as director was Baby from 2002. It was followed by North Face (2008), Young Goethe in Love (2010), Erased (2012) and The Physician (2013). Stölzl's work for the opera stage includes a production of Charles Gounod's Faust in 2008 and Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore in 2013.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Physician II poster
6.7

1050 AD: Robert Cole returns to England to bring the medical light of the Orient to his countrymen. But he fails because of the intrigues of the established London doctors, who feel threatened by the new knowledge. And it is not only the human body that is full of seemingly impenetrable secrets, the soul also holds its own mysteries.

The Physician II

2025

The Physician II poster
6.7

1050 AD: Robert Cole returns to England to bring the medical light of the Orient to his countrymen. But he fails because of the intrigues of the established London doctors, who feel threatened by the new knowledge. And it is not only the human body that is full of seemingly impenetrable secrets, the soul also holds its own mysteries.

The Physician II

2025

The Physician poster
7.3

England, 1021: Born in a miserable mining town, Robert Cole swears to become a physician and vanquish disease and death. His harsh path of many years, a quest for knowledge besieged by countless challenges and sacrifices, leads him to the remote Isfahan, in Persia, where he meets Ibn Sina, the greatest healer of his time.

The Physician

2013

Erased poster
6.1

A former agent of the CIA and his estranged daughter go on the run after his employers target them for assassination.

Erased

2012

North Face poster
7.2

North Face tells the story of two German climbers Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser and their attempt to scale the deadly North Face of the Eiger.

North Face

2008

North Face poster
7.2

North Face tells the story of two German climbers Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser and their attempt to scale the deadly North Face of the Eiger.

North Face

2008

Chess Story poster
6.8

1938. While the Nazi troops march into Vienna, the lawyer Josef Bartok hastily tries to escape to the USA with his wife but is arrested by the Gestapo. Bartok remains steadfast and refuses to cooperate with the Gestapo that requires confidential information from him. Thrown into solitary confinement, Bartok is psychologically tormented for months and begins to weaken. However, when he steals an old book about chess it sets him on course to overcome the mental suffering inflicted upon him, until it becomes a dangerous obsession.

Chess Story

2021

Young Goethe in Love poster
6.1

After aspiring poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe fails his law exams, he's sent to a sleepy provincial court to reform. Instead, he falls for Lotte, a young woman who is promised to another man.

Young Goethe in Love

2010

Young Goethe in Love poster
6.1

After aspiring poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe fails his law exams, he's sent to a sleepy provincial court to reform. Instead, he falls for Lotte, a young woman who is promised to another man.

Young Goethe in Love

2010

Winnetou - A New World poster
6.2

The first part, "A New World", tells how the young German engineer Karl May comes to America and starts to work for a railway company in the Wild West. Under dramatic circumstances, he meets Apache chief Winnetou and becomes friends with him and his tribe. The Apaches give it the name Old Shatterhand. Together they fight now against the unscrupulous henchmen of the railway company, who wants to lay a route through the Indian area.

Winnetou - A New World

2016

Winnetou - The Secret of Silver Lake poster
6.3

In the second part of the German remake of the Winnetou films, Winnetou's sister Nscho Tschi is kidnapped by a brutal crook who wants to find a mythical Apache treasure. Old Shatterhead and Winnetou get forced to search for the precious in the silver sea by their evil opponent El Mas Loco.

Winnetou - The Secret of Silver Lake

2016

Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci poster
8.0

As comparably short operas, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci are often billed together, but seldom is the lead tenor making his double role debut as Turiddu and Canio on the same evening. At the 2015 Salzburg Easter Festival, Jonas Kaufmann did just that to rapturous praise. Universally hailed as a coup for Kaufmann, the plaudits were also showered on Philipp Stölzl for his innovative staging which includes live video projections while referencing the era of black-and-white movies.

Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci

2015

I've Never Been to New York poster
5.9

In the life of TV presenter Lisa, everything revolves around her talk show, celebrities and the ratings. There is just as little room for love as there is for her mother Maria. When the 66-year-old loses her memory after a fall in her apartment and wakes up in the hospital, she can only remember that she has never been to New York and sets off immediately. Lisa goes in search of Maria with her makeup artist Fred. She struck gold on a cruise ship that was just leaving for New York. As stowaways, the three have no choice but to earn the passage. While Fred is hired as an assistant by the Greek on-board magician Costa, Lisa and Maria have to work in room service. The crossing soon takes surprising turns for mother and daughter: Maria falls in love with the charming dancer Otto, who supposedly knows her from before, and Lisa takes a liking to the widowed statistician Axel Staudach, who is traveling with his son Florian.

I've Never Been to New York

2019

Rienzi, der letzte der Tribunen poster
NR

Grand tragic opera in 5 acts by Richard Wagner. Libretto by Richard Wagner after the homonymous novel by Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton.

Rienzi, der letzte der Tribunen

2010

Winnetou - The Last Fight poster
6.3

In Part Three, entitled "The Last Fight," gangster Santer Jr. attempts to seize an oil well on Indian territory. To prevent this, Winnetou and Old Shatterhand must reconcile the warring Indian tribes so that they can take up the fight against the henchmen of the criminal.

Winnetou - The Last Fight

2016

Il Trovatore - Staatsoper Berlin poster
8.0

Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin in this production of Verdi's opera starring Anna Netrebko and Plácido Domingo. The Count Di Luna believes that his younger brother was murdered years before by a vengeful gypsy but still hopes that he may be alive. When he attempts to court the beautiful Leonora, he is enraged to discover that she has a lover – the troubadour, Manrico. Manrico and the Count duel, and afterwards Manrico reveals to Azucena, the woman he believes to be his mother, that when he had the opportunity to kill the Count he felt something holding him back.

Il Trovatore - Staatsoper Berlin

2013

Baby poster
4.4

Frank and Paul are best friends forever and raised Frank's daughter Lilli after a tragic car accident. The two men scrape a living by working as barmen and bouncers in a strip club while Lilly has grown into a lively and self-confident teenager. The disaster unfolds when Lilli seduces Paul and gets pregnant.

Baby

2003

No artwork available
8.0

A man condemned to death has a brilliant idea about how he could escape his execution.

Morituri Te Salutant

2000

Rigoletto - Festival de Bregenz poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Rigoletto - Festival de Bregenz

2019

Absolute Garbage poster
6.2

A collection of the band's most famous promos from 1995's "Vow" to 2007's "Tell Me Where It Hurts". Includes the documentary "Thanks For Your Uhh, Support".

Absolute Garbage

2007

Elektra poster
NR

In the spring of 2024, the Berliner Philharmoniker, under the direction of their chief conductor Kirill Petrenko, presented a staged production of Richard Strauss’s thrilling and dark opera Elektra – the highlight of the Baden-Baden Easter Festival. The title role was sung by the acclaimed soprano Nina Stemme. Philipp Stölzl, who has caused a sensation with his spectacular productions on the lake stage at the Bregenz Festival, was the director and set designer.

Elektra

Giacomo Puccini: Turandot poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Giacomo Puccini: Turandot

2022

Benvenuto Cellini poster
7.0

Live performance from Salzburg Festival Opera, August 2007. The story tells of Cellini's love for Teresa, daughter of the Papal Treasurer Balducci. His rival, the Papal Sculptor Fieramosca, overhears Cellini plotting to run away with Teresa during the carnival.

Benvenuto Cellini

2007

Rusalka - Dutch National Opera poster
NR

More than anything in the world, Rusalka, a mysterious and elusive water nymph, yearns to become human to win the heart of a young prince. But this metamorphosis comes at a price: she will lose her voice and be damned forever should their love story fail. To what lengths would you go to find happiness?

Rusalka - Dutch National Opera

2023