Eric Breitbart - filmmaker, writer, photographer

Eric Breitbart is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker based in New York City. His documentaries include portraits of Robert Indiana, Aby Warburg, Louis Stettner, Diego Rivera, and Frederick Winslow Taylor. His 1994 film about the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904, A World On Display, was followed by his book of the same title on the anthropology exhibits at the Fair, published in 1997 by the University of New Mexico Press. He has written articles on film and popular culture for journals such as the New England Review, Cinemascope.it, Cinéaste, Metropolis, and American Film. His most recent film, Cinépingle: la mémoire du geste (The Last Pin Movie), is a feature length documentary about work and creativity.

Currently in production:
Human Relations: The Hawthorne Experiments
Scheduled for release, Spring 2009

In April 1927, the Western Electric Company began a series of experiments to investigate the effect of rest periods and reduced hours on worker efficiency at their Chicago manufacturing plant. Five women telephone relay assemblers were moved to a test room where they could be observed, interviewed, and their output closely monitored. Originally projected to last for a few months, what became known as the Hawthorne Experiments continued for over five years, and expanded into the most comprehensive industrial research project ever undertaken. What exactly happened in the test room and how the results should be interpreted has been discussed and re-evaluated ever since. Using archival photographs and motion picture footage, dramatic recreations, and interviews with historians, Human Relations: The Hawthorne Experiments will bring this important story to life.