Ben Wolf is a New York City-based cinematographer, director, editor, and teacher. He and his wife/business partner Nara Garber are partners in Topiary Productions, Inc. (www.topiaryproductions.com), a boutique film and video production company specializing in digital video production and post.
FEATURES
Director of Photography of the features Be My Boy, Have I Got a Script for You, Show Me The Aliens! (2nd unit, GenArt Film Festival), Fat Chance (San Jose Cinequest Film Festival), Amour Infinity (Urban World Film Festival, Best Film Jamerican Film Festival, Audience Choice Award Hollywood Black Film Festival), City Alone, Jihad! (2nd unit), Uneasy, The Hu$tle (American Black Film Festival, distributed by Lion's Gate), Nora's Hair Salon (2nd unit, distributed by Fox Entertainment), and Territory. Mr. Wolf is currently developing his first narrative feature Closed Circuit.
DOCUMENTARIES
Editor of the feature documentary Gladys, directed by distinguished Czech film-maker Vojtech Jasny and distributed by Productions La Fete, Canada. Cinematographer for the documentaries Picture the Homeless, Seeing New York, Running Madness, 12,000 Parts -- One Masterpiece, and Dancing Shoes.
TELEVISION
Director of Photography for Bravo's The It Factor. Shooter for American Movie Classic's Into Character, Columbia Tristar's Judge Hatchett, The Independent Film Channel's DV Theater, and Control Freak Productions' Shotgun Wedding. Director and editor of bicycle racing coverage for Sparta Cycling, Outdoor Life Network, and Aria TV Sports. Shooter of Zee TV's American Masala and the Dutch Veronica network's The Verge.
COMMERCIALS
DP of Indian television commercials for Visions Unlimited/Zee TV. DP/editor of New York State political commercials for Jon Houston Productions. DP of Leave no Billionaire Behind, a finalist in move-on.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds" competition.
INDUSTRIALS
Director and editor of legal education videos for Emanuel Publishing Corp. Director of Photography of corporate videos for Winstar Communications , Bayer Pharmeceuticals, Pfizer, Pepsi, MetLife, Russ Berrie, Cosmopolitan, and Citigroup. Director of Photography of webcasts for Agency.com.
TEACHING
Ben is teaching an ongoing series of seminars on digital filmmaking through DV New York (www.dvny.com) and the LA DV Academy (www.ladvacademy.com). He has been a guest lecturer at NYU's Tisch School and the School of Visual Arts, and writes video camera and software reviews for Cnet (www.cnet.com).
EDUCATION
A graduate of Yale College (B.A. Philosophy, 1991) and Columbia University School of the Arts (M.F.A. Film, Directing Concentration, 1999), Ben wrote, directed, and edited two award-winning student shorts. Prizes received include Best Student Work at the Arizona Cinema Shorts Festival, Juror's Citation Award at the Black Maria Film and Video Festival, 2nd Place, Fiction Category at the New York State Student Film/Video Festival, Best Video at the Polo Ralph Lauren New Works Festival, Best Video Narrative at the Utah Short Film & Video Festival, and Best Video Short at the Long Island Film Expo.