Ben Young

Movies

Saint Marietta
Director
The starting point of this documentary exploration is a 1980s abuse scandal in Cleveland, northern England, which turned out to be a scandal of false accusations. In his uniquely personal and literarily remarkable way, Ben Young discusses this historical event from offscreen. What we see is surprising contemporary footage of the region. Image and sound unite in a strong-minded attempt to capture a piece of local history by cinematic means.
William Jefferson Wilderness
Director
An inventive examination of the legacy of the 1990s: In his experimental short film, Ben Young portrays the figure of the then U.S. president – whom he is said to have met once in person in Louisville, Kentucky – as a foil for the questionable political developments, the beginnings of a globalised world and a society marked by collective amnesia. The director’s intelligent, witty and very personal reckoning with Bill Clinton.
Tony Fraginals
Director
In the early 1990s, a bizarre hoax mesmerised the U.S. media landscape and even called Oprah Winfrey to the scene. The occasion: the autobiography of a minor, called “Tony”, who suffers from Aids and syphilis after years of abuse. But despite his numerous celebrity supporters, Tony never appears in public. His adoptive mother, Vicki Johnson, does instead. Now an old friend from Great Britain speaks up at last …
Bad News
Producer
Three strangers converge at a management training day focused upon Leadership, Accountability, and Empathy. Their task: fire a colleague. In the semi-improvisational piece BAD NEWS, three actors assume professional personas to engage with a (real) corporate actor-facilitator whom they have never met before. In the film - as in real life, behind closed doors - applied theatre techniques originally designed to give individuals and communities a sense of agency are redirected to serve HR.
Hello Big Weird
Director
Composed of UAP 'witness' videos from across the globe - brief, ephemeral clips that straddle a blurry boundary between error, hoax, and genuinely unidentified phenomena - HELLO BIG WEIRD is a playful meditation on a once-ridiculed subculture's transition into respectability.
Klandiana
Director
In the 1920s, the Klu Klux Klan briefly achieved the height of its power: not in the Deep South, but in the culturally liminal state of Indiana. Using never-before-seen archive, KLANDIANA explores the origin and horrors of Klan rule, and the legacy of historical amnesia that emerged in the era's wake.