Ben Lawrence

Director |Writer

Ben Lawrence is an internationally award-winning filmmaker, working across short film, documentary series, feature and feature documentary.

Ben’s debut narrative film Hearts and Bones (Night Kitchen Productions, 2019), which he co-wrote with Beatrix Christian, has been critically lauded since its world premiere at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival, where it played in Official Competition. Ben received the 2020 Australian Director’s Guild (ADG) Award for Best Direction in a Feature Film (Budget 1M +) and is also nominated for the 2020 Australian Writer’s Guild Award in the Best Original Feature Film category with his co-writer, Beatrix Christian. Hearts and Bones had its international premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, where the screenings were followed by standing ovations. The film tells the story of a friendship between a war photographer (Hugo Weaving) and a South Sudanese refugee (Andrew Luri), who are connected by a photograph that threatens to destroy them both.

His critically acclaimed debut feature documentary, Ghosthunter (Madman Entertainment), has screened at multiple festivals around the world, earning an Ben an AWGIE Award for Best Writing for a Documentary Feature; an AACTA Award nomination for Best Feature-Length Documentary as well as winning the Sydney Film Festival Best Australian Documentary Award in 2018. It was released nationwide in Australia and New Zealand by Madman in September 2018. Ben has also, in association with Audible, released a five-part true-crime podcast inspired by the documentary; both the podcast and the documentary follow Jason King, a Western Sydney security guard and self-taught ghost hunter confronting a terrible family secret. Ben has received an AWG Award nomination in the Audio Category for the adaptation.

Ben also co-directed a 3x1hr documentary series for the ABC called Man Up (Heiress Films, 2016) which focused on male masculinity and the alarming rates of suicide amongst Australian men.

His short films have screened at Edinburgh, Clermont-Ferrand, Los Angeles, San Gio and Sao Paulo film festivals.

Ben recently completed his latest feature documentary, Ithaka (Shipton House, 2022), which has been nominated for the 2022 AACTA Award for Best Documentary, won the 2022 AWGIE for Best Documentary - Public Broadcast or Exhibition, and has earned Ben a nomination for Best Direction in a Documentary Feature at the 2022 ADG Awards. It is a riveting documentary following Julian Assange from U.K.'s maximum security, Belmarsh Prison, as he appeals an extradition order to the U.S. where he could face 175 years in prison for his role in the release of classified U.S. diplomatic files.

Ben is currently developing a number of projects, including a series adaptation of Ghosthunter.

For enquiries regarding Ben Lawrence please contact us via email or on (02) 9319 7199