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‘The most devastating documentary you will see this year’
THE TELEGRAPH ON ‘ATOMIC PEOPLE’
Benedict Sanderson is a BAFTA winning director and cinematographer. He makes bold, atmospheric and visually striking films, full of heart and humanity.
Ben’s new 90 minute feature documentary ‘Atomic People’ premiered at Sheffield Documentary Festival in May 2024, and was released on the BBC & I-Player in August. It tells the extraordinary stories of 15 survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki in 1945. The Radio Times described it as ‘a most remarkable, moving, & harrowing piece of television’, while The Guardian called it ‘ a deeply moving, quietly devastating film’. It was given 5 stars by The Financial Times, The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Irish Independent & The Telegraph.
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’. It was nominated for two BAFTAs for Best Factual Series & Cinematography, a Grierson Award & three Royal Television Society Craft 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 won a BAFTA for his cinematography on ‘The Detectives: Taking Down an OCG’, while the previous series, ‘The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime’ was 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 directed and filmed 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. He is currently directing a new feature documentary for Netflix.
Contact
benedict.sanderson@minnowfilms.co.uk
Follow
https://www.instagram.com/benedict.sanderson