Benjamin Harold Zeitlin (; born October 14, 1982) is an American filmmaker, best known for directing and co-writing the 2012 film ''

Beasts of the Southern Wild ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'' is a 2012 American fantasy-drama film directed, co-written, and co-scored by Benh Zeitlin. It was adapted by Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar from Alibar's one-act play ''Juicy and Delicious''. The film stars Quvenzhan� ...

'', for which he received two

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nominations.

Early life

Zeitlin was born in Manhattan and raised in Sunnyside, Queens, New York, and in suburban Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. He is a graduate of Hastings High School and

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

. He was born to writers and

folklorists Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

Mary Amanda Dargan and Steven Joel Zeitlin, who founded the NYC non-profit cultural organization City Lore. His father, who is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, spent most of his childhood in Brazil; his mother comes from a rural,

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

background in Darlington, South Carolina. His younger sister is screenwriter and artist Eliza Zeitlin.

Career

In 2004, Zeitlin co-founded the Court 13 independent collection of filmmakers, named after a neglected Wesleyan University squash court that he and his friends had once commandeered as a filming location. His younger sister Eliza Zeitlin and he moved to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

while he was making his first short film, ''Glory at Sea'', in 2008. In 2012, Zeitlin's first feature, ''

,'' adapted from a play entitled ''Juicy and Delicious'' by Lucy Alibar, won the

Caméra d'Or The Caméra d'Or ("''Golden Camera''") is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes selections (Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight or Critics' Week). The prize was created in 1978 Ca ...

award at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

, the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, and the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Deauville American Film Festival. The film went on to earn the Los Angeles Film Festival's Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

's Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director. Zeitlin was also given a Humanitarian Award for his work on the film at the Satellite Awards 2012. Notably, Zeitlin both directed ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'' and co-composed the score. For his directorial work and screenplay in ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'', Zeitlin collected several additional awards and nominations. At the Gotham Independent Film Awards in 2012, he won the Breakthrough Director Award. At the same awards ceremony, Zeitlin received the inaugural Bingham Ray Award, which honors the independent filmmaker who died in 2012. Zeitlin also won a

Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an American award for film and television writing, presented to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful manner. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of ...

(as co-writer/director; shared with Alibar as co-writer), amongst other awards. He has also received two nominations at the 85th Academy Awards: Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Lucy Alibar), and the film itself was nominated for Best Picture. In 2019, it was revealed that Zeitlin was directing his next feature ''

Wendy Wendy is a given name generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain during the English Civil War in the mid-1600s, a male Captain Wendy Oxford was identified by the Leveller John Lilburne as a spy reporting on his activit ...

'' in Montserrat, an island south of

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

. Inspired by '' Peter Pan'', Zeitlin described the film as "a friendship-love story-adventure of her and a joyous, reckless, pleasure-mongering young boy as they swirl in and out of youth and as the ecosystem around them spirals toward destruction."

Filmography

Short film * ''Egg'' (2005) * ''Origins of Electricity'' (2006) * ''Glory at Sea'' (2008) Feature film * ''

'' (2012) * ''

'' (2020)

Awards

Zeitlin was the 2012 recipient of '' Smithsonian'' magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the Visual Arts category.

References

External links