Hermann Vaske is a director, author and producer. As a director he worked with actors such as Dennis Hopper, Harvey Keitel, Sir Peter Ustinov and John Cleese.
He is the winner of the Grimme Award (Germany’s TV Oscar) and more than 100 creative awards including Cannes Lions and Clios.
After studying at the University of the Arts in Berlin and at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles Hermann worked as Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi in London and at FCB.
Hermann Vaske’s Emotional Network is a creative boutique. It is one of Germany’s most awarded advertising agencies and production companies. Clients include ARTE, Deutsche Bank, Audi, ZDF, BILD, BMW, Bayern 4 Klassik and Hornbach.
Hermann’s previous television films include features on David Bowie and Yohji Yamamoto, as well as the feature length documentaries “The Fine Art of Separating People From Their Money”, “The A – Z of Separating People From Their Money” and “The Ten Commandments of Creativity” starring Dennis Hopper and Sir Peter Ustinov, for which he won the Special Award of the Jury of the International Television Festival of Venice.
His books include “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants – Conversations with the Masters of Advertising” which was released in 2001 and “Why Are You Creative?” with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His “Why Are You Creative?” TV series with 150 episodes was broadcast on the ARTE channel in 2002.
The same year Hermann presented his “Why Are You Creative?” exhibition in Cannes at the International Film Festival and at the Frankfurt Book Fair. In October 2002 he was awarded the Eyes & Ears of Europe Excellence Award.
In 2003, Hermann directed the short film “Who Killed the Idea?” starring Harvey Keitel, Debi Mazar and supermodel Nadja Auermann. The film was shown on ARTE. Hermann’s film “Das Kleine Fernsehspiel – reloaded”, which portrayed 40 years of independent films was broadcasted by ZDF, German Television in December 2003. With Jim Jarmusch, Mike Leigh, Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Petersen and others.
In 2005, Vaske won two German Art Director’s Club Gold and a “Cannes Lion” for the “Blixa Bargeld reads Hornbach” campaign.
The same year he shot the 98-minute documentary “Invasion of the Ideas” for ARTE. This journey to the center of the idea stars artists like Björk, Daniel Libeskind, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson, Fernando Meirelles, Sean Penn and Steven Soderbergh, and top scientists like Dr. Amit Goshwami, Deepak Chopra, Edward De Bono, Craig Venter, Wolf Singer and Stephen Hawking.
In 2006, Hermann produced and directed “The Art of Football” (Grimme Award Nominee 2007) starring John Cleese. It’s an exciting rollercoaster ride into the crazy and creative world of football. With football legends like Pelé, Beckenbauer, Platini, Kaká, Henry and Collina, politicians like Dr. Henry Kissinger, filmmakers like Wim Wenders and musicians like Dave Stewart. The Art of Football was nominated for a Grimme Award and won a Gold Award at the European Art Director’s Club in 2007.In 2007 Vaske directed Dennis Hopper in Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet”. The Film that he shot with Cinematographer Rain Li is a credo for creativity. In the same year, Vaske shot “Die Poetry Slam Revue” hosted by Katrin Bauerfeind, as a part of the Berlin International Literature Festival. Both films were shown on Arte/ ZDF Theaterkanal.
In 2008 Vaske shot “Olympia from A – Z” starring Chinese actress Bai Ling in Beijing and at the Great Wall in China.
In 2009, Hermann Vaske directed “The Radical Gardener”, starring Jeff Koons, Jonathan Meese and Malcolm McLaren for ARTE, the European Cultural Channel.
In 2010, Hermann Vaske shot “Digital Bomb”, where Internet celebrity Tron Guy presents the past, present and future of the Internet. With web-stars like Leslie Hall and technical evangelist Justine Ezarik, digital creatives like Benjamin Palmer and Simon Waterfall, and authors like David Weinberger (“The Cluetrain Manifesto”), Andrew Keen (“The Cult of the Amateur”), and Bernard Stiegler from the Centre Pompidou.
In 2010 Vaske also initiated the Internet project “Creative Heads” in collaboration with Google/Youtube. The platform had 3 million clicks. Out of 4000 user contributions Vaske created the 40 minutes film “Beyond - A Cyberspace Odyssey”, which premiered in the Internet and at the Cannes Creativity Festival.
Hermann Vaske is a member of the German Art Directors Club and the European Film Academy (EFA).
