Ben Rivers

Ben Rivers
At the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland, August 2025
Born1972 (age 53–54)
OccupationsArtist, experimental filmmaker
Websitebenrivers.com

Ben Rivers (born 1972) is an artist and experimental filmmaker based in London, England. His work has been screened at film festivals and galleries around the world and have won numerous awards. Rivers' work ranges in themes, including exploring unknown wilderness territories to candid and intimate portraits of real-life subjects.

Life and career

Ben Rivers studied fine art at Falmouth University. His practice as a filmmaker treads a line between documentary and fiction. Often following and filming people who have in some way separated themselves from society, the raw film footage provides Rivers with a starting point for creating oblique narratives imagining alternative existences in marginal worlds. Rivers often employs analogue media and hand develops 16mm film, which shows the evidence of the elements it has been exposed to – the materiality of this medium forming part of the narrative.

Rivers's first feature-length film, Two Years at Sea, was presented in September 2011 in the Orizzonti section at the 68th Venice International Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI International Critics prize. His second feature, A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness, was made in collaboration with American filmmaker Ben Russell, a frequent collaborator, and premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2013. His feature film directed in collaboration with Thai filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong Krabi, 2562 (2019) premiered at Locarno Film Festival that same year. Rivers was awarded the Pardo Verde for his feature film Mare's Nest (2025) at the 78th Locarno Film Festival.

Rivers is represented by Kate MacGarry Gallery, London. He is a Media City Film Festival Chrysalis Fellowship recipient (2020), after screening his work at the festival since the early aughts. His feature films are distributed in the United Kingdom by SODA Pictures, Cinema Guild and KimStim in North America.

Shows

Artist-in-focus screenings and retrospectives include Courtisane Festival; Pesaro International Film Festival; London Film Festival; Tirana Film Festival; Punto de Vista Pamplona; and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Filmography

Awards and commissions

References

  1. ↑ "Lux. Ben Rivers". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  2. ↑ Archived 7 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness". A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness. 13 September 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. ↑ Szalai, Georg (16 August 2025). "Locarno Film Festival Top Award Goes to 'Two Seasons, Two Strangers' by Sho Miyake". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  5. ↑ "Media City Film Festival". Media City Film Festival. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  6. ↑ "Soda Pictures". Soda Pictures. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "TWO YEARS AT SEA - Cinema Guild Home Video". Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "spell-theatrical". Kimstim.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑ "Wild Shapes | Cell Project Space". cellprojects.org. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  11. ↑ "A Foundation: Ben Rivers – A World Rattled of Habit". Afoundations.blogspot.com. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Ben Rivers | Gallery TPW". Gallerytpw.ca. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Matt's Gallery – Ben Rivers: Slow Action". Mattsgallery.org. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Heather & Ivan Morison, Ben Rivers, David Thorpe | What'S On". Hepworth Wakefield. 10 June 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Archived 15 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ "Temporary Gallery". Temporary Gallery. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Exhibitions". Kate MacGarry. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "courtisane" (in Dutch). Courtisane.be. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "Punto de Vista – Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de Navarra". navarra.es. Retrieved 3 March 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  20. ↑ "Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Program sections". Kviff.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  21. ↑ Abbatesciannil, Davide (9 July 2025). "Ben Rivers' Mare's Nest to world-premiere in Locarno's competition". Cineuropa. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  22. ↑ "Ben Rivers". Animate Projects Archive. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  23. ↑ "Tiger Short Competition". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  24. ↑ "Ben Rivers". Animate Projects Archive. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  25. ↑ "FLAMIN Productions Round 1". Film London. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  26. ↑ "The Film London Jarman Award". Film London. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  27. ↑ "Awards for Artists". Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  28. ↑ "Ben Rivers – Winner of 2011". Baloise Art. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  29. ↑ "68th Venice Film Festival". FIPRESCI. International Federation of Film Critics. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  30. ↑ "The Jarman Award 2012". Film London. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  31. ↑ "Ben Rivers". Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Harvard University. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  32. ↑ "Ben Rivers". Artangel. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  33. ↑ "Things". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  34. ↑ "Eye Art & Film Prize" (PDF). Eye Filmmuseum. 17 May 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  35. ↑ "Ben Rivers". Media City Film Festival. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  36. ↑ "Official Palmarès – 78th Locarno Film Festival" (PDF). Locarno Film Festival. 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2026.