- Occupation
Producer, Director - Country
Germany
Winker Erik
Work Hard - Play Hard
A documentary about the removal of boundaries in the workplace. Man, as the most important motor of growth in our highly skilled Western service society, has become the focus of modern management practices. By following these different procedures, the film explores companies’ efforts to motivate their employees so that they give their maximum performance. From innovative office architecture that is supposed to create a whole world of emotions for employees, to the complete digital registration of employees’ personality traits, the workingman has now entered the matrix of a total working world.
A documentary about the removal of boundaries in the workplace. Man, as the most important motor of growth in our highly skilled Western service society, has become the focus of modern management practices. By following these different procedures, the film explores companies’ efforts to motivate their employees so that they give their maximum performance. From innovative office architecture that is supposed to create a whole world of emotions for employees, to the complete digital registration of employees’ personality traits, the workingman has now entered the matrix of a total working world.
The Silent Promise
At the end of his life Holocaust survivor and Hollywood producer Branko Lustig, soon to be 80 years old, sets out once more to prove his love to his daughter Sara: After 25 years he returns to his hometown Osijek/Croatia to meet his daughter who is in search for her own and her father's identity. Who is this man who with the movie Schindler's List followed up on a promise he gave as a young boy to the murdered Jews in a concentration camp? How did he manage to survive the horrors of the Holocaust and not to loose faith in humanity? How has his fate affected his work and family? The film is a touching road movie following the life story of Branko Lustig from his time in Auschwitz as a 12-year-old to Hollywood and to his return to his native country Croatia at the age of almost 80 years. On this journey we meet movie stars like Meryl Streep, Ridley Scott, Volker Schlöndorff and Branko Lustig's longtime friend Steven Spielberg with whom he initiated the Shoa Foundation. Furthermore, the film tells a moving father-daughter story: The relationship between Branko and his daughter had been strained and distant for many years. The father was too preoccupied with himself, his war trauma and later with his career in Hollywood. Sara stepped out of her father's shadow, became a lawyer and - as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor - defended war criminals at the tribunal in The Hague. Only slowly did the two approach again and gradually they get back together. The film will accompany this process, thereby telling a lot about the generation of the children of Holocaust survivors. A film about the magic of cinema, the happiness of a family and the invincible will to survive.
At the end of his life Holocaust survivor and Hollywood producer Branko Lustig, soon to be 80 years old, sets out once more to prove his love to his daughter Sara: After 25 years he returns to his hometown Osijek/Croatia to meet his daughter who is in search for her own and her father's identity. Who is this man who with the movie Schindler's List followed up on a promise he gave as a young boy to the murdered Jews in a concentration camp? How did he manage to survive the horrors of the Holocaust and not to loose faith in humanity? How has his fate affected his work and family? The film is a touching road movie following the life story of Branko Lustig from his time in Auschwitz as a 12-year-old to Hollywood and to his return to his native country Croatia at the age of almost 80 years. On this journey we meet movie stars like Meryl Streep, Ridley Scott, Volker Schlöndorff and Branko Lustig's longtime friend Steven Spielberg with whom he initiated the Shoa Foundation. Furthermore, the film tells a moving father-daughter story: The relationship between Branko and his daughter had been strained and distant for many years. The father was too preoccupied with himself, his war trauma and later with his career in Hollywood. Sara stepped out of her father's shadow, became a lawyer and - as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor - defended war criminals at the tribunal in The Hague. Only slowly did the two approach again and gradually they get back together. The film will accompany this process, thereby telling a lot about the generation of the children of Holocaust survivors. A film about the magic of cinema, the happiness of a family and the invincible will to survive.
Studies in Communication, Film, Education and TV Production in Münster, Berlin and Manchester. Final degree as Master of Arts. Afterwards postgraduate studies in film directing at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Regular work as assistant for documentary directors such as Andes Veiel ("Die Spielwütigen") and as a tutor for children´s film festivals and schools. 2003 – 2007 fully employed producer for LICHTBLICK Film Cologne. During this time various national and international documentary productions for WDR, ZDF, ARTE, SF, YLE, TVE, BBC beyond others. Since 2007 freelance producer and director for documentaries. 2008 foundation of HUPE Film together with Andreas Brauer and Martin Roelly. Teaching assignments at the University Salzburg and the University Of Applied Sciences Salzburg. Board member of Filmbüro NW (filmmaker´s association) and member of EDN.
Work Hard - Play Hard (2011, 90 min, documentary), DOK Leipzig 2011 (Int. Competition), released in German cinemas April 2012;
Happy Work (2012, 95 min), release in German cinemas late summer 2012;
An Island Named Udo (2011, 80 min), released in German cinemas in June 2011, 85.000 visitors.
HUPE Film
Antwerpener Str. 14
50672 Cologne
Antwerpener Str. 14
50672 Cologne
Project Market - 2013
Project Market - 2012
FIPRESCI-Award DOK Leipzig, Prize of the ecumenical Jury DOK Leipzig, Golden Key DOKfest Kassel for “Work Hard – Play Hard”