Biography Hermann Vaske
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. As a producer, he worked with amazing human beings like The Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and Marina Abramovic. He is the winner of the Grimme Award (Germany’s TV Oscar) and more than 100 creative awards including Cannes Lions and Clios.
Vaske studied at the University of the Arts in Berlin and at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles and started his career working for some of the world’s best advertising agencies like Saatchi&Saatchi in London, GREY New York, and FCB.
Vaske went on producing films for television and cinema. His previous television films include features about David Bowie and Yohji Yamamoto.
Between 1995 and 2001, Vaske shot three 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.
In 2003, Vaske directed and co-produced the short feature film “Who Killed the Idea?” starring Harvey Keitel, Debi Mazar, and supermodel Nadja Auermann.
In 2006, Vaske produced and directed “The Art of Football” starring John Cleese. The exciting rollercoaster ride into the crazy and creative world of football won the Gold Award at the Art Directors Club of Europe.
In 2010, Vaske shot “Digital Bomb”, where Internet celebrity Tron Guy presents the past, present and future of the Internet. With Bernard Stiegler from the Centre Pompidou Lab and Nick Rowan, editor-in-chief of Wired.
In 2012, Vaske has completed “Balkan Spirit”, a road movie into the creativity of South East Europe. With Marina Abramovic, Slavoj Zizek, Emir Kusturica and Angelina Jolie. “Balkan Spirit” was nominated for the Prix Europa.
In 2014, Vaske filmed “Arteholic” in which film and art legends Udo Kier, Lars von Trier and Rosemarie Trockel take us around Europe’s best museums. The film had its world premiere at the Film Festival Munich. Its US premiere took place at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2015 and its Russian Premiere in 2016 at the Museum of Contemporary Art GARAGE in Moscow.
In 2016, Vaske filmed “Dennis Hopper: Uneasy Rider”. The documentary, starring Diane Kruger, Wim Wenders, Julian Schnabel, Michael Madsen, Ed Ruscha, Frank Gehry, Kris Kristofferson, and Harry Dean Stanton, won the Film 4 Change Award of the Santa Fe Film Festival.
In 2018, his new film, “Why Are We Creative? The Centipede’s Dilemma”, celebrates its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival as part of the Venice Days and will come to cinemas in autumn.
Vaske is a member of the German Art Directors Club, professor at the University of Applied Arts and Sciences in Trier, and a member the European Film Academy (EFA).
