Ben Selkow is an award-winning, non-fiction television and film director, producer and showrunner, whose work has been showcased on Netflix, HBO, CNN, PBS, Sundance TV, Discovery, Participant Media, Univision, Esquire Network, and at film festivals globally, such as SXSW, Tribeca and winning Audience and Best Documentary Prizes at DOC NYC and the Seattle International Film Festival. His work pushes the cinematographic medium while crafting evocative human stories that elevate topics to broader platforms of dialog. He has directed and produced long form documentaries, docu-series, hosted international series and branded content all over the world. His work has taken him to Japan to Zambia to India to Israel, and beyond. Ben has worked with A-list stars, hosts and musicians, and has made social justice pieces focusing in vulnerable populations while winning multiple national awards recognizing his work in support of mental health issues.
Most recently, Ben worked as an executive producer, showrunner and director for the Netflix and Mass Appeal-produced docu-series on hip hop culture, Rapture shot on the 8K RED Helium Weapon. Ben directed all six episodes of CNN’s series “Believer” with New York Times best-selling author and religious scholar Reza Aslan. He was a director and producer on the episodes Emmy and Peabody Award-winning docu-series “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” for CNN, the Anthony Bourdain-executive produced travel series “The Getaway” for Esquire Network, and co-created/executive produced “Welcome to Fairfax” for Participant Media about youth culture in Los Angeles.
In the feature documentary film space, Ben produced “Death by a Thousand Cuts” which premiered at the 2016 Hot Docs Film Festival, won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Seattle International Documentary Competition, won the Audience Award at the 2016 DOC NYC Film Festival, showed at the Miami International Film Festival, and won numerous environmental awards. He directed and produced “Buried Above Ground,” which focuses on PTSD, and premiered at the 2015 Woodstock Film Festival, where it was a Finalist for Best Documentary and Best Editing and won a 2016 SAMHSA Voice Award and 2017 Mental Health America Media Award. The film premiered on PBS’s America ReFramed series during June 2016’s PTSD Awareness Month. Over six years, the vérité film goes on an inspirational journey with people trying to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). With this film, he was selected for a 2010-2011 Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship. Ben produced “Prayer for a Perfect Season” for HBO; “The Carrier” which played on PBS and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival; and directed and produced “A Summer in the Cage” which was acquired by Sundance Channel and focuses on bipolar disorder, was nominated for a PRISM Award, nominated for a VOICE Award and won the 2009 Mental Health America (MHA) Media Award.
Ben was invited to attend the prestigious Sundance Institute Producers’ Conference. Ben graduated from Wesleyan University’s Film Studies Program and African- American Studies Program both with Honors.