Saville Signs Cinematographer Ben Richardson

Saville has signed award-winning cinematographer and filmmaker Ben Richardson for commercial spot representation in North America. Ben received the Excellence in Cinematography Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Award for his visceral and hauntingly beautiful work in Ben Zeitlin’s surrealist bayou tale Beasts of the Southern Wild. With the standout success of Beasts, Ben has garnered worldwide attention for his extraordinary DP work and can even count director Steven Spielberg as a fan.

 
In Beasts of the Southern Wild, Hushpuppy’s story is cinematically captured through the richness and rawness of her southern Louisiana world. Ben believes that cinematography is something that goes beyond just a “capture medium,” and ultimately an emotional connection is central, as filmmaking is “one of the most versatile interpreters of visual reality ever created.”

By exploring the limit of the visuals, Ben creates a masterpiece that resonates, inspired by capturing moments of truth that transcends into a magical realmwith both subtlety and texture. Ben states, “When you're creating a world that is so removed from reality, the idea of controlling it and keeping it neat seemedentirely wrong. We wanted to shy away from shiny, sparkly visuals and keep the photography grounded." Ben has been lauded by NY Times critic A.O. Scott to have found “rugged, ragged beauty in nearly every shot.”
 
Ben is originally from the UK and lived in Prague where he met director Ben Zeitlin. Subsequently, Ben collaboratively worked with Zeitlin as a cinematographer on the multi-award-winning magical-realism film Glory at Sea. Ben won Best Animated Short at Slamdance 2010 for the stop motion film Seed, which he co-directed and shot. He was also director of photography on The Hunter and the Swan Discuss Their Meeting, a Sundance 2011 official selection.