Benjamin Rost studied film directing at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg after previously studying philosophy and TV journalism. His films have been shown and awarded at international festivals such as DOK Leipzig, DOK.fest Munich, Filmfest Munich and Camerimage. He is a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation and the state scholarship ‘Young Art and New Paths’.
Between 2017 and 2019, he lived in Rwanda and South Africa, where he supported the youth TV channel ‘Iwacu’ of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and at the same time shot his graduation film A Portrait on the Search for Happiness, which was funded by ARD / MfG and is available on Amazon Prime. His debut film Harraga – Those Who Burn Their Lives was released nationwide in cinemas and was nominated for the German Documentary Film Award. In collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, he founded the Pitch_It-programme and the FILM IT animation workshop for refugee children from Ukraine. His latest film, Born to Fake, received numerous positive reviews (including in Tagesthemen, Capriccio and TTT - Titel Thesen Tempramente) and won the One Future Award at the Munich Film Festival.
Benjamin Rost has been working as a director for ARD for 15 years, producing short and long-form TV- programmes, including the series Lebenslinien and Plan B on ZDF. He also created the ARD media library highlight series Galleripky – Fotografie mit Paul Ripke (Galleripky – Photography with Paul Ripke) and regularly holds workshops, including at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg and the FreeSZFE Budapest.
Between 2017 and 2019, he lived in Rwanda and South Africa, where he supported the youth TV channel ‘Iwacu’ of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and at the same time shot his graduation film A Portrait on the Search for Happiness, which was funded by ARD / MfG and is available on Amazon Prime. His debut film Harraga – Those Who Burn Their Lives was released nationwide in cinemas and was nominated for the German Documentary Film Award. In collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, he founded the Pitch_It-programme and the FILM IT animation workshop for refugee children from Ukraine. His latest film, Born to Fake, received numerous positive reviews (including in Tagesthemen, Capriccio and TTT - Titel Thesen Tempramente) and won the One Future Award at the Munich Film Festival.
Benjamin Rost has been working as a director for ARD for 15 years, producing short and long-form TV- programmes, including the series Lebenslinien and Plan B on ZDF. He also created the ARD media library highlight series Galleripky – Fotografie mit Paul Ripke (Galleripky – Photography with Paul Ripke) and regularly holds workshops, including at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg and the FreeSZFE Budapest.
FESTIVALS
Dok.Leipzig - International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film
Filmfest München (Munich International Film Festival)
Camerimage International Film Festival
Dok.fest München (nominated for FFF Förderpreis und Megaherz Student Award)
Molodist - Kyiv International Film Festival
Zurich Film Festival ZFF
Hof International Filmfestival
Max-Ophüls-Prize Film Festival
Encounters - South African International Documentary Filmfestival
One World International Human Rights Film Festival
Africa in Motion Film Festival
Biberacher Filmfestspiele
Alexandria International Film Festival
Madrid Human Rights Film Festival
Buzau International Film Festival - Winner Best Documentary
East African International Film Festival - Winner Best Feature Documentary
Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival - Winner Best Feature Documentary
Bir Duino - Kyrgysztan Human Rights Film Festival - Winner Special Jury Award
Diorama International Film Festival - Special Mention
Verzio Internation Human Rights Film Festival
Neisse Filmfestival
Landshuter Kurzfilmfestival
Great Lakes International Filmfestival
Filmschau Baden-Württemberg
and many more.