The Essential List: Ben Briand
Aussie director Ben Briand only relocated to Los Angeles last year, but already he's found an All Time favourite spot for a bit of grub. What's more, he's happily taken to the hills of the city's famous Griffith Park Observatory as a place to stretch his limbs. Repped by Stink Films, his work is honest and human yet distinctive and technical in its approach.
We tapped him up for his Essential List to find out more.
Lifestyle
o Place of birth: Melbourne
o Hometown: LA (sometimes Sydney)
o Vacation: Vacations make me anxious
o Pets: My two children
o Place of work: Revolving between the holy trinity of my living room, Los Feliz Library & Stink Films
o Place of workout: Currently the slopes of Griffith Park Observatory
o Side project: Everything is a side project until someone ponies up the cash
o Mode of transport: Uber
o Bonus Travel Essential: HEAD. PHONES.
Culture
o Artist: Old school: Rothko and Hopper. New School: M.I.S.O and KillDie (Kyle Montgomery)
o Musician: Nino Rota + Ennio Morricone Soundtracks for writing. Mike Patton for cooking. Lana Del Rey for eating. Nick Cave for drinking. Black Flag for motivating. Miles Davis + BB King for Sunday afternoon
o Music video director: I’m always charmed by fellow Collider directors Clemens Habicht and Daniel Askill.
o Film director: Don’t really have one. Is that weird?
o Photographer: Todd Hido / Bill Henson
o Film: Paris, Texas
o Series: Does the Late Show With Colbert count as a series?
o Commercial: The last five things Johnny Green made.
o Music Video: The last five things Mark Romanek made.
o Video Game: My wife is keen for us to buy Gran Turismo. I’m not sure how this will impact our lives.
o Board Game: Uno. Technically a card game.
o Book: Currently Cronenberg on Cronenberg
o Graphic Novel: Wish I read them enough to have a favourite one.
o Podcast: Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday (no joke). You will never be the same after her 10 part series with Echardt Tolle.
o Newspaper (off or online): I like the layout of the NYT print but the content of CNN.com.
o Magazine: Monster Children
o Bonus culture essential: My record player. Currently broken (thanks incompatible international voltage reading) and record stores.
Food and Drink
o Breakfast: Fried egg with avocado
o Restaurant: All Time, Hillhurst Ave Los Feliz
o Cheap bite: All Time, Hillhurst Ave Los Feliz
o Working lunch: All Time, Hillhurst Ave Los Feliz
o Favourite Dish: Fried rice @ All Time, Hillhurst Ave Los Feliz
o Bar: A dive bar down the road - The Drawing Room
o Booze: Diplomatico Reserva rum (thanks Alexis Bensa for getting me hooked).
Kit
o Phone: iPhone
o Computer: Too old. The 15-inch size is perfect though
o TV: Don’t have one
o Headphones: Beats and the free iPhone ones.
o Camera: Leica M7
o Pen / pencil: Always a felt tip. 0.6.
o Where you document an idea: I text myself ideas. Anytime something jumps into my head I would send a text. I did it for years. Then one day discovered I was texting someone else. I had accidentally put my own number incorrectly into my phone. I received a random text message from someone listed as ‘Ben Briand’ asking: ‘Who is this?’. It was my Lost Highway moment.
o Casual Clothing: APC
o Smart Clothing: APC
o Footwear: A pair of black trainers
o App: The ‘Gram!
