In the nineties Schmidt made three feature films in Italy, influenced by Italian directors such as Valerio Zurlini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Luchino Visconti, Francesco Rosi, Federico Fellini etc.

While living in Rome in 2016, Schmidt made a collection of nine feature films under the title ROMAN CYCLE, which he brought from the cinema to the Blu-ray release.

In 1989, in cooperation with NHK and Sony, Schmidt was the artistic director of the first major HDTV production in the world of Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung.

In the seventies Schmidt began a collaboration with Joachim Fuchsberger for numerous TV variety shows.

In the 2011 Schmidt developed a new creative format, FOTOVISION, a combination of poetry, photography and music.