Ben Addelman (born 1977) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is known for directing four

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

: ''

Discordia Eris (; grc-gre, Ἔρις ', "Strife") is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her Roman equivalent is Discordia, which means the same. Eris's Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Roman counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with th ...

'', '' Bombay Calling'', ''

Nollywood Babylon ''Nollywood Babylon'' is a 2008 feature documentary film directed by Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, it is about the explosive popularity of Nigerian movies. The United Kingdom distributor is Dogwoo ...

'', and ''Kivalina vs. Exxon''. Besides directing, he is known for work as a cinematographer, screenwriter and sound designer.

Career

His first film ''

'' (2004) co-directed with

Samir Mallal Samir Mallal (born in Halifax, Nova Scotia) is a Canadian filmmaker whose work touches commercials, virtual reality, and documentaries. Samir is based in Los Angeles, California. Career Samir's work appears on many platforms including advertisi ...

follows three students during the aftermath of the Netenyahu Incident at Concordia University in Montreal in 2002. His second film, '' Bombay Calling'' (2006) also co-directed with

follows the lives of

telemarketer Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequen ...

s working outsourced jobs in a call center in Bombay (

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

), India. Both films were produced by Adam Symansky from the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

. His third film, ''

'' (2008) with co-director Samir Mallal, a documentary co-produced with the

in association with the Documentary Channel is about the explosive popularity of Nigerian movies. His fourth film, ''Kivalina v. Exxon'' (2011), follows the efforts of a small town in Alaska in a lawsuit against the oil and gas industries for climate change-related damages. He has directed documentary television for Vice, Apple TV+, Disney+ and BBC. A recent Apple TV+ show that he was a director on is

Becoming You ''Becoming You'' is a documentary television series created by Wall to Wall Media and narrated by Olivia Colman. The series was released on November 13, 2020 on Apple TV+. Premise ''Becoming You'' follows 100 children from across the world ...

Awards

*In 2009, he was nominated with co-director Samir Mallal for "Best World Cinema - Documentary" award during

2009 Sundance Film Festival The 2009 Sundance Film Festival was held during January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. Award winners *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - '' We Live in Public'' *Grand Jury Prize ...

for the film ''Nollywood Babylon''. *Won Best Documentary at the

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

in 2011 for ''Kivalina V. Exxon''.

References

External links

*
NFB page of Ben AddelmanDiscordiaBombay CallingNollywood Babylon
Canadian documentary film directors Film directors from Montreal Living people Anglophone Quebec people Concordia University alumni 1977 births {{Canada-film-director-stub