How can a female director contribute to innovation processes within companies? Lena Kupatz from PAULIWOOD FILM GmbH discusses storytelling as a driver of innovation and cross-innovation on an electric tractor in Rwanda.
In our ‘Meet the Creatives’ series ,we regularly showcaseexperts from our creative poolof around 70 people , with whom we collaborate on innovation processes for businesses. This time in the spotlight: director and producer Lena Kupatz.
Lena, you’ve been working as a documentary film director for 14 years now – so, in a sense, in a completely different world to that of many businesses. What do you bring from that world to cross-innovation processes?
As a director and producer at PAULIWOOD FILM, I translate complexity into something emotionally and humanly accessible. Innovation often fails not because of the idea itself, but because it isn’t communicated in an accessible way. That’s where I come in. Showing visions in their real-world impact – that’s the added value that storytelling can bring to innovation processes. I’m interested in the perspective that nobody has seen before – whether it’s an ARTE documentary or a corporate film.
“In every project, I deliberately seek out the point at which the familiar gives way.”
I suppose things don’t always go to plan in film either. It’s precisely this unpredictability that can make innovation processes so exciting. How do you deal with that?
With documentary filmmaking, I never know exactly what an interviewee is going to tell me before the camera starts rolling. I’ve learnt to approach the process with a clear structure, whilst remaining open to whatever actually unfolds on location. That means uncertainty isn’t a hindrance for me, but rather the place where the most interesting stories emerge. In every project, I consciously seek out the point where the familiar tips over.
Was there a moment in your work when that became particularly clear?
A good example of this came during a shoot in Rwanda. There, we were covering Volkswagen’s GenFarm Project, in which the first electric tractors for smallholders are being trialled. It’s a concept that has made its way from a model at the Guggenheim Museum in New York to the fields there.
What we hadn’t anticipated, however, was that our drone pilot had to pull out at short notice. So we had to improvise – and, without further ado, we sat our cameraman on the front of an electric tractor’s blade to replace the planned drone shot.
“This is what cross-innovation feels like to me: people from different backgrounds working together creatively on the ground.”
At that very moment, two forms of innovation came together: the technological vision of a solar-powered tractor for sustainable agriculture, and our creative approach to a disruption during filming, which we turned into a unique cinematic moment.
That’s exactly what cross-innovation feels like to me: global ideas for the future that only really come to life when people from different worlds work together creatively on the ground.
So you had to think on your feet quite quickly at that moment. Finally, what question would you ask companies to challenge their approach to innovation just a little?
I’d ask them: What unspoken promise do you make to your customers that, deep down, you know you can’t actually keep – and what innovation would it take to change exactly that?
Lena Kupatz is a director, writer and creative producer with 14 years’ experience in directing and story development. She is the managing director of PAULIWOOD FILM GmbH, which specialises in documentaries, docudramas and corporate brand films for broadcasters, cultural institutions and companies. She is part of the Cross Innovation Hub’s pool of creative professionals.
