Winfried Oelsner, born 1972 in Marl, studied film and television as well as history and politics in Bochum (1993-1995) and Cologne (1995-1998). He then began studying at the Ludwigsburg Film Academy, department of documentary and feature film direction. Together with Lisa-Marie Dickreiter (his later wife) he shot the short feature film "Vida! Bruchstücke einer Erinnerung" (2002), about a woman haunted by memories of torture endured during the Pinochet regime. The film won the German Camera Award (Matthias Fleischer) and the Young Talent Award at the Biberach Film Festival. 

Oelsner's graduation film also dealt with a survivor of the Pinochet regime: the feature-length documentary "Rey Negro - Der schwarze König" (2003) portrayed the Chilean singer-songwriter Sergio Vesely, who was a political prisoner under Pinochet and has been living in exile in Germany for more than twenty years. For his film, Oelsner was awarded the Förderpreis der Baden-Württembergischen Filmindustrie. 

For television, Oelsner made the disaster film "Tsunami" (2005), about a tsunami on the North Sea coast. The film did not receive good reviews. In contrast, his documentary "Projekt Gold - Eine deutsche Handball-WM" (2007) about the German national team winning the Handball World Championships in 2007, which was released in cinemas was a big hit at the box office. Oelsner's intense family drama "Vom Atmen unter Wasser" (2008), starring Andrea Sawatzki in the leading role of a grieving mother, was highly praised by critics and won the audience awards at the International Film Weekend in Würzburg and the Filmz Festival of German Cinema in Mainz.  

In the following years Winfried Oelsner worked for television. He wrote two episodes of the series "Küstenwache" (2012) and realised several reportages and documentaries, including "Im Fokus – Europa ohne England" (2012), "Linksabbieger gesucht – Sozis in Nöten" (2013) and "Milch: Ein Glaubenskrieg" (2017). For the documentary series "Akte D" (2014-2018) Oelsner 2015 was awarded the prestigious Grimme Prize in the category "Information and Culture" together with other participants of the series. In addition to his work as author and filmmaker, he was honorary lecturer for direction and dramaturgy at the Media Academy Hamburg from 2012 to 2014. 

Together with his wife, the writer and screenwriter Lisa-Marie Dickreiter, Oelsner began the children's book series "Max und die Wilde 7" in 2014. The first volume "Das schwarze Ass" was awarded the children's book prizes Der goldene Bücherpirat and Paderborner Hase in 2015. The couple also co-wrote the screen adaptation of the books, "Max und die wilde 7" ("Max & the Wild Bunch"). The film, directed by Oelsner, was released in German cinemas in August 2020.