Ben Lewis
Independent documentary filmmaker
biography
A documentary film-maker, whose films are commissioned by the BBC, Arte and broadcasters from Europe, North America and Australia. Included in his credits are "The King of Communism: the pomp and pageantry Nicolae Ceausescu", which won a Grierson Award in 2002, and "Hammer and Tickle: the Communist Joke Book", which was premiered at the New York Tribeca Film Festival 2006 and won best documentary at the Zurich Film Festival in the same year. He is best known for his series about contemporary artists "Art Safari", which has been shown in the UK, Europe, Australia and America, and which won a bronze at the New York Television Awards and a German Grimme Prize in 2007. "Art Safari" featured films on Maurizio Cattelan, Takashi Murakami, Matthew Barney, Sophie Calle and Wim Delvoye, among others. He writes a monthly column on art for Prospect magazine and contributes art criticism to the Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph in the UK and Monopol magazine in Germany. He also produced a limited edition "Art Safari" film on DVD, commissioned by the Deutsche Bank for their exhibition "Affinities" at the Deutsche Guggenheim in 2007.
