Ole Schell, follows his girlfriend, high-fashion model Sara Ziff, for several years documenting her rise from a fresh face to one that adorns billboards and magazines around the world. In the process, Ole follows Sara behind the scenes and chronicles the glitzy world of high fashion modeling from photo shoots with celebrated photographers to runway shows in New York, Milan and Paris. This intimate account features in-depth interviews with noted photographers and designers but also relies on footage shot by the models themselves, giving voice to those who are often seen but rarely heard. Picture Me was distributed theatrically, on demand and on television by Strand Releasing, Warner Brothers and the Sundance Channel domestically. Internationally Picture Me was released in over 50 countries. It can be seen on Amazon, Google Play, and Youtube.
A twenty minute documentary by Ole Schell about the life of Lil Buck, the dancer, and his trip to perform in Beijing with Yo-Yo Ma and Meryl Streep. Featured on the Colbert Show, this film blends western hip-hop, traditional Chinese music, Yoyo Ma on the Cello and performances by Lil Buck and Meryl Streep.
“Win In China,” is a feature length documentary directed by Ole Schell for Chinese Central Television on that nation's entrepreneurial and technological revolution. It stars founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, founder of Haier, Zhang Ruimin, Lenovo CEO, Liu Chuanzhi and a bunch of lower level Ferrari salesmen, Chinese rappers and one aspiring lingerie baron.
A simple 8 minute film by Ole Schell for Al Gore's, Current TV, about the last man then still alive, who was inside Adolf Hitler's bunker as Germany was falling. The man was 14 years old then and hand delivering Hitler's orders to the ever closer front lines by motorcycle.
A 20 minute documentary by Ole Schell about a man who escaped the genocide in Burundi East Africa all the way to New York only to return years later to build a health center and save thousands of lives a year from curable diseases. The film plays out like an adventure story.
Can the US presidential election be hacked through electronic voting machines? In 2004 Ole Schell and James Lefkowitz made a film to see if electronic voting machines could be manipulated. They traveled the country speaking with hackers, software engineers, lawyers and politicians while going behind the scenes in modern-day elections to see how they are tallied. What they discovered is frightening and still pertains to today with countries like Russia aggressively attacking our electoral system.
