ABOUT
Benjamin is a German-Hungarian film and television writer/director and producer/showrunner. His projects range from commissioned documentaries for public broadcasters, to feature-films with cinematic release to nonfiction shows for streamers.
The World Belongs to Chaim, a portrait of an orthodox Jewish boy in Budapest, set the tone for Benjamin’s sensitive and character-driven storytelling. The film won the Axel Springer prize for young journalists.
Benjamin’s directorial feature-film debut, Harvest (Stadt Land Fluss, Edition Salzgeber), builds on a hybrid structure, that combines observational documentary with dramatic acting. It premiered on the 61st Berlinale – Generation 14Plus and won the Berlinale Teddy Reader’s Award and best feature on the Side-By-Side LGBT Filmfestival in Russia 2012. Benjamin’s more journalistic pieces include an award-winning documentary on HIV cure-research for Arte/rbb and a film about refugee camps for Al Jazeera Documentaries.
Benjamin works closely with the producers Nils Bökamp and Felix Kriegsheim, within THE THURSDAY COMPANY on international nonfiction and fiction formats.
On behalf of LUPA FILM Benjamin worked with Felix von Boehm as creative producer on the development of Karim Aïnouz’ feature documentary THF – Central Airport (Berlinale Panorama 2018), as well as Albert Serra’s feature film Liberté (Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2019), among others.
In 2020/21 Benjamin was entrusted by Netflix Studios as showrunner of a 4×52′ true crime series, to be released in late 2021.
Benjamin has a BA in Animation from the Filmuniversität Babelsberg and a diploma in directing from the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb). He is an alumni of the Torino Film Lab 2013, and participant of EAVE 2016, as well as fellow of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum. In 2015 Benjamin was artist in residence in Tel Aviv, by invitation of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the Israel Filmfund. During 67th Berlinale Benjamin was member of the international jury for the Generation 14Plus competition.
