“‘Line of Duty’ can but aspire to the sort of tension that this expertly edited police documentary creates” - The Times on BAFTA nominated 'The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime’
Benedict Sanderson is a multi-BAFTA nominated director and BAFTA nominated cinematographer. He makes bold & distinctive films, featuring thrilling storytelling, powerful atmosphere & arresting visuals.
Ben’s new feature documentary ‘Atomic People’, made with Minnow Films & the BBC Documentary Unit, is due for release in 2024 and tells the extraordinary stories of 15 survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki in 1945.
In 2023, Ben wrote and directed ‘Dublin Narcos’ for Blast! Films & Sky Documentaries/ NOW TV. The series mixes scripted drama & documentary to recount the drug-fuelled history of Dublin from the 1970s-2000s. The Guardian called it a ‘brilliant three-part documentary’ & the Sunday Times ‘Illuminating and gripping TV’. In 2024 it is nominated for 2 BAFTAs for Best Factual Series & Cinematography, and has also been nominated for a Grierson Award & 3 RTS Craft awards for Directing, Cinematography and Editing.
Over 5 years, between 2018-2023, Ben directed & filmed 2 series (5 episodes) of the acclaimed Minnow Films/ BBC documentary television series ‘The Detectives’. Embedded with elite police units these high risk verité films follow the pursuit of violent drug gangs in Greater Manchester involved in exploitation, kidnap & murder. In Spring 2024, Ben was nominated for a BAFTA for his cinematography on ‘The Detectives: Taking Down an OCG’, while ‘The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime’ was previously nominated for a BAFTA for Best Factual Series in 2022 & won an RTS Craft award for Best Editing. The Sun has described the series as ‘TV gold’.
In 2022, Ben released the investigative three part biography ‘Mother Teresa: For the Love of God?’ (Sky Documentaries/ NOW TV), an explosive reassessment of the saint featuring interviews from whistleblowers within the Catholic Church. The Guardian gave it 4 Stars and said it had, ‘Damning testimony from a killer witness’. The Times called it ‘A complex and fascinating profile’.
Over a 15 year career Ben has filmed and directed episodes of the Netflix global hit ‘DOPE’ & worked as a director on multiple award-winning series including ‘Hospital’ (BBC 2), ‘Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds’ (Ch4) and ‘24 hours in Police Custody’ (Ch4). He has also written & directed drama shorts, including ‘Vigilante’, the story of a shopkeeper during the 2011 London riots, which was shown & won awards at film festivals worldwide.
Ben honed his filmmaking skills in-house at the BBC, having worked up from warehouse floor to trainee lighting cameraman at Procam, the global equipment provider. Whilst there he also worked as a camera assistant on iconic British comedy ‘Peepshow’.
Originally from Manchester, Ben lives in London.
Contact
benedict.sanderson@minnowfilms.co.uk
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