Ben Proudfoot (born October 29, 1990) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is most noted as director of '' The Queen of Basketball'', winner of the 2021 Academy Award for

Best Documentary Short Subject This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are annou ...

; as well as codirector with Kris Bowers of the short documentary film ''

A Concerto Is a Conversation ''A Concerto Is a Conversation'' is a 2021 American short documentary film directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers. Summary The 13-minute film centers on Bowers's conversations with his 92-year-old entrepreneur grandfather about personal and ...

'', which was an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021.Victoria Ahearn
"Canada’s Ben Proudfoot up for Oscar for short doc ‘A Concerto is a Conversation’"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', March 15, 2021. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Proudfoot is of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

heritage. He was active as a sleight-of-hand magician in his youth, winning several international magic competitions, before attending film school at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.Susan Bradley
"Ben Proudfoot wins best director for short film at Raindance Film Festival"
CBC News Nova Scotia, September 28, 2015. He launched his own film production company, Breakwater Studios, in 2012, and has directed a number of other short films including ''Dinner with Fred'', ''ink&paper'', ''Life's Work: Six Conversations with Makers'' and ''That's My Jazz''. On July 27, 2021, '' The New York Times'' website published a 16-minute film by Proudfoot about the life of astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Entitled "The Silent Pulse of the Universe," the film shows her instrumental role in the research on the discovery of pulsars and how she did not receive recognition for her work in the attribution of the Nobel Prize received by

Antony Hewish Antony Hewish (11 May 1924 – 13 September 2021) was a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 (together with fellow radio-astronomer Martin Ryle) for his role in the discovery of pulsars. He was also awarded the ...

and Martin Ryle. Bell Burnell also describes the extreme prejudice she faced at school, at university and in her career as a woman scientist. On August 24, 2021, the ''Times'' website published another 16-minute film by Proudfoot. "Almost Famous: The First Report" profiles Jason Berry, the Louisiana reporter who broke the

Catholic Church sex abuse scandal There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, nuns, Popes and other members of religious life. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, ack ...

back in the 1980s — in large part, before the world was ready to listen. In 2002 '' The Boston Globe'' did much the same, this time garnering a Pulitizer Prize and inspiring the Academy Award-winning feature film '' Spotlight'', whereas Berry spent ten unrewarding years trying to get traction for his amply documented stories of the church protecting and enabling pedophile priests. '' The Queen of Basketball'', Proudfoot's film about women's basketball legend Lusia Harris, won the

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are annou ...

;

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...

and Steph Curry served as executive producers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Proudfoot, Ben 1990 births Canadian documentary film directors Canadian magicians Film directors from Nova Scotia People from Halifax, Nova Scotia Canadian people of Scottish descent Living people Directors of Best Documentary Short Subject Academy Award winners