Marco Johann Kreuzpaintner (born 11 March 1977) is a German film director, screenwriter, showrunner and executive producer. He is known for his gay coming-of-age feature film Summer Storm, the critical acclaimed Netflix series Bodies, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts winning series The Lazarus Project and his Amazon Prime series Beat which won him Germany's prestigious Grimme Preis. His fantasy film Krabat starring Daniel Brühl and David Kross and the screen adaptation of the Ferdinand von Schirach novel The Collini Case starring Elyas M'Barek, Alexandra Maria Lara and Franco Nero were box office hits in their original territory Germany. Kreuzpaintner's U.S. feature film Trade, starring Kevin Kline, is a story about human trafficking. It was the first film to premiere at the United Nations on invitation of former U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. The film played a key to finally passing a law against sex trafficking role in the state of New York.

In 1999, he began his career in the role of German dubbing assistant for the Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut.

In the same year, his first short film, Entering Reality, starring August Diehl attracted attention at film festivals. In 1999, he founded the production company Die Filmmanufaktur with Oliver Weiss. In 2000, he made the short film Der Atemkünstler, for which he was nominated for the Talent award First Steps, and in 2002, he made a TV pilot, Rec – Kassettenmädchen/Kassettenjungs.

In 2003, his first feature-length film, Ganz und gar, which describes the life of a young leg amputee, was released in theaters.

This was followed in 2004 with the drama Summer Storm, which, according to Kreuzpaintner, resembles his own coming out as a young gay man. Summer Storm won the German Film Award for Best Young Director and earned him a nomination for Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film's lead was also nominated for Best Actor. Distributed by Warner Bros., the film was an official selection at over 50 film festivals worldwide, including Toronto, Berlin, London, and Palm Springs.

In 2006, he wrote the screenplay for the film version of the youth novel Die Wolke.

In 2007, Trade was released internationally. The film focuses on the subject of human trafficking, forced prostitution, and modern slavery. Trade was produced by Rosilyn Heller and was originally supposed to be directed by Roland Emmerich. However, as he was involved in preparation for directing 10,000 BC at the time, another director was sought, and Emmerich chose Kreuzpaintner, having met him previously in Munich in 2003. Trade was the first film to have its world premiere at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The premiere was hosted by Sigourney Weaver, with former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon opening the event.

On 9 October 2008 Krabat, an adaptation of the youth novel of the same name by Otfried Preußler was released, starring Robert Stadlober, Daniel Brühl and David Kross. Krabat had a successful release both in Germany and international markets, breaking the domestic record in 2008 for German language film. Looking to expand into other areas of the filmmaking business, 2009 saw Kreuzpaintner co-found the production company Summerstorm Entertainment in Berlin, with producers Ossie von Richthofen and Fabian Wolfart. Summerstorm Entertainment continues to develop and produce English and German language films, it became a subsidiary of multi-faceted media company Film House Germany in 2011.