"As a movie, Stars manages to be both lyrical and monumental. As a statement, it practices a dialectic of unity and isolation. [...] Stars is a fairy tale, albeit a hardboiled one that never forgets the degraded conditions of the deportees or their fate.[...] Stars is striking for its internationalism, particularly in a linguistic sense. [...]  Most remarkably, there is an extended scene in which, among themselves, the Jews speak Ladino—making Stars the only feature I know with dialogue in the language of the Sephardim."  — J. Hoberman, TABLETmag.com

“Philosophical and powerful!” — The New York Times

“Subtle and heartbreaking.” — Los Angeles Times

“An emotionally raw experience that beautifully frames a fragile human drama within the context of inconceivable tragedy. Stars is a milestone film in the history of Holocaust-related cinema. Highly recommended.” — VideoLibarian

“…haunting and graphically realistic images of despair in a film that is both moving and thought-provoking.” — Bloomsbury

A film of surprising detail, visual clarity, and emotional depth. — New York Jewish Film Festival

"Well made! Technical credits are excellent!” — Variety

Stars is surprising because of the powerful vision behind every shot, the unrelenting intelligence of an auteur long overlooked in the West.” — San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

“A visually fascinating and humanly touching drama. One of the most striking films of the GDR cinema.” — Vienna Jewish Film Week

“An outstanding performance by Sasha Krusharska.” — Lexikon des internationalen Films

“The film blends poetic dreams with grim reality.” — Dimitar Badarsky, filmreference

“The DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst is doing invaluable work for the preservation of 20th-century East European history in bringing this rare glimpse of Bulgaria's past to as wide an audience as possible.” — Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian and EK Foundation of Bulgaria

"Stars sheds light on the Sephardic experience of WWII."  —Classics, 2017 Washington Jewish Film Festival