Ben Rivers

At the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland, August 2025

Ben Rivers (born 1972) is an artist and experimental filmmaker based in London, England. His work has been screened at film festivals and galleries around the world and have won numerous awards. Rivers' work ranges in themes, including exploring unknown wilderness territories to candid and intimate portraits of real-life subjects.

Life and career

Ben Rivers studied fine art at Falmouth University. ^[1] His practice as a filmmaker treads a line between documentary and fiction. Often following and filming people who have in some way separated themselves from society, the raw film footage provides Rivers with a starting point for creating oblique narratives imagining alternative existences in marginal worlds. Rivers often employs analogue media and hand develops 16mm film, which shows the evidence of the elements it has been exposed to – the materiality of this medium forming part of the narrative. ^[2]

Rivers's first feature-length film, Two Years at Sea, was presented in September 2011 in the Orizzonti section at the 68th Venice International Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI International Critics prize. His second feature, A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness , ^[3] was made in collaboration with American filmmaker Ben Russell, a frequent collaborator, and premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2013. His feature film directed in collaboration with Thai filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong Krabi, 2562 (2019) premiered at Locarno Film Festival that same year. Rivers was awarded the Pardo Verde for his feature film Mare's Nest (2025) at the 78th Locarno Film Festival. ^[4]

Rivers is represented by Kate MacGarry Gallery, London. He is a Media City Film Festival Chrysalis Fellowship ^[5] recipient (2020), after screening his work at the festival since the early aughts. His feature films are distributed in the United Kingdom by SODA Pictures, ^[6] Cinema Guild ^[7] and KimStim ^[8] in North America.

Shows

• "Nought to Sixty" ICA, London, 2008. ^[9]
• "Wild Shapes" – group show, Cell Project Space, London, 2008. ^[10]
• "A World Rattled of Habit" – solo show, A Foundation, Liverpool, 2009. ^[11]
• "Slow Action" – solo show, Gallery TPW, Toronto 2011 ^[12] and Matt's Gallery, London 2011. ^[13]
• "Heather and Ivan Morison, Ben Rivers and David Thorpe" – Hepworth Wakefield 2012. ^[14]
• "Ah, Liberty!" – solo show, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin 2013. ^[15]
• "Fable" – solo show, Temporary Gallery, Cologne 2014. ^[16]
• "Things" – solo show, Kate MacGarry Gallery, London 2014. ^[17]

Artist-in-focus screenings and retrospectives include Courtisane Festival; ^[18] Pesaro International Film Festival; London Film Festival; Tirana Film Festival; Punto de Vista ^[19] Pamplona; and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ^[20]

Filmography

• Old Dark House (2003)
• We the People (2004)
• The Hyrcynium Wood (2005)
• The Bomb with a Man in his Shoe (2005)
• This Is My Land (2006)
• Astika (2006)
• The Coming Race (2006)
• Terror! (2006)
• Greenhouse (2007)
• Dove Coup (2007)
• House (2007)
• Ah, Liberty! (2008)
• Sørdal (2008)
• Origin of the Species (2008)
• A World Rattled of Habit (2008)
• May Tomorrow Shine The Brightest of All Your Many Days As It Will Be Your Last (2009)
• I Know Where I'm Going (2009)
• Slow Action (2010)
• Two Years at Sea (2011)
• Sack Barrow (2011)
• The Creation As We Saw It (2012)
• Phantoms of a Libertine (2012)
• A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (2013) (co-directed with Ben Russell)
• Things (2014)
• The Film That Buys the Cinema (2014)
• The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers (2015)
• What Means Something (2015)
• A Distant Episode (2016)
• There Is a Happy Land Further Awaay (2016)
• The Hunchback (2016) (co-directed with Gabriel Abrantes)
• Trees Down There (2018)
• The Rare Event (2018)
• The Ambassadors (2018) (co-directed with Anocha Suwichakornpong)
• Now, At Last! (2018)
• Krabi, 2562 (2019) (co-directed with Anocha Suwichakornpong)
• Ghost Strata (2019)
• Look Then Below (2020)
• Bogancloch (2024)
• Mare's Nest (2025) ^[21]

Awards

• 2007: London Artists Film and Video Award.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 2008: Tiger Award for Short Film, International Film Festival Rotterdam
• 2008: Vauxhall Collective Commission.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 2009: Film London Artist's Moving Image Network production.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 2010: Shortlisted for the Jarman Award. ^[22]
• 2010: Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists. ^[23]
• 2011: Baloise Art Prize, Art Basel. ^[24]
• 2011: FIPRESCI, International Critics Prize, 68th Venice Film Festival
• 2012: Shortlisted for the Jarman Award. ^[22]
• 2012: Robert Gardner film award. ^[25]
• 2013: Artangel Open
• 2014: Tiger Award for Short Film, International Film Festival Rotterdam
• 2020: Media City Film Festival Chrysalis Fellowship

References

1. "Lux. Ben Rivers". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
2. Archived 7 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
3. "A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness". A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness. 13 September 2013. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
4. Szalai, Georg (16 August 2025). "Locarno Film Festival Top Award Goes to 'Two Seasons, Two Strangers' by Sho Miyake". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
5. "Media City Film Festival". Media City Film Festival. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
6. "Soda Pictures". Soda Pictures. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
7. "TWO YEARS AT SEA - Cinema Guild Home Video". Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
8. "spell-theatrical". Kimstim.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
9. Archived 25 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine
10. "Wild Shapes | Cell Project Space". cellprojects.org. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
11. "A Foundation: Ben Rivers – A World Rattled of Habit". Afoundations.blogspot.com. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
12. "Ben Rivers | Gallery TPW". Gallerytpw.ca. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
13. "Matt's Gallery – Ben Rivers: Slow Action". Mattsgallery.org. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
14. "Heather & Ivan Morison, Ben Rivers, David Thorpe | What'S On". Hepworth Wakefield. 10 June 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
15. Archived 15 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
16. "Temporary Gallery". Temporary Gallery. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
17. "Exhibitions". Kate MacGarry. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
18. "courtisane" (in Dutch). Courtisane.be. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
19. "Punto de Vista – Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de Navarra". navarra.es. Archived from the original on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
20. "Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Program sections". Kviff.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
21. Abbatesciannil, Davide (9 July 2025). "Ben Rivers' Mare's Nest to world-premiere in Locarno's competition". Cineuropa . Retrieved 11 July 2025.
22. "FLAMIN - the Jarman Award 2010". Archived from the original on 7 November 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
23. "Paul Hamlyn Foundation ~ 2010 Awards ~ Ben Rivers ~ About the artist". Archived from the original on 24 August 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
24. "Baloise Art Prize 2011 - Baloise Group". Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
25. "robert gardner film award Archives". Studio 7 Arts. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Kate MacGarry Gallery
• Cinemascope interview
• BOMB magazine interview
• Vimeo page