Mark Benjamin

Mark Benjamin (born 1947) is an American documentary filmmaker best known for his Peabody Award-winning, Sundance TV series Brick City and the feature film Slam. His most recent television series, Ocean Warriors aired on Animal Planet in 2016.

In 2018, Benjamin co-directed, with Marc Levin, the feature documentary Chasing the Thunder, which follows Sea Shepherd Conservation Society captains during a 110-day, 10,000-nautical-mile pursuit of the poaching vessel Thunder from Antarctica to West Africa. The film premiered at EarthxFilm in 2018 and had a wider streaming release on Discovery+ in 2021. The film premiered on March 21, 2025, at the Sonoma International Film Festival and screened on March 24, 2025, at the DC Environmental Film Festival. and Mongabay, and received a Certificate of Merit in the Donald Gosling Award for Best Audio-Visual Production category at The Maritime Foundation's 2025 Maritime Media Awards.

Over his career, Benjamin's work has also received multiple duPont–Columbia Awards and Emmy Awards, and Ocean Warriors won the Best Series award at the Jackson Wild Media Awards. Chasing the Thunder screened in more than 200 cities worldwide and was named a finalist for the United Nations' World Wildlife Day Film Showcase: Living Oceans.

Film and television Year Project Network Credit Festivals and Project Awards 1974 Lamp Unto My Feet: My Father's House CBS Director, Director of Photography 1975 Cold Frame CBS Director, Director of Photography Shown in the Basel Art Fair 1975 Lamp Unto My Feet: Twice Promised Land CBS Producer, Director, Director of Photography 1977 Jerusalem Peace PBS Producer, Director, Director of Photography Chicago Film Festival, The Museum of Modern Art - Director's Series 1979 Bill Moyers Journal - The People of Nes Ammim PBS Producer, Director 1980 Bill Moyers Journal - Women Inside PBS Producer, Director American Film Festival - Blue Ribbon 1980 Bill Moyers Journal - Barry Commoner: The Politics of Energy PBS Producer, Director 1980 Bill Moyers Journal - Campaign Report: Watts PBS Producer, Director 1980 Bill Moyers Journal - Campaign Report: Ronald Reagan PBS Producer, Director 1980 Bill Moyers Journal - Campaign Report: Jimmy Carter PBS Producer, Director 1980 Bill Moyers Journal - Evangelicals and the Right PBS Producer, Director 1980 We are the Guinea Pigs PBS Director of Photography 1980 The New Immigrants Series PBS Director of Photography New York Emmy 1981 NBC White Paper: Crisis in Black America NBC Director of Photography Monte Carlo Film and Television Festival 1982 Creativity with Bill Moyers - Performing Arts High SchoolPBS Director, Director of Photography Primetime Emmy - WON 1982 Portrait of an American Zealot PBS Director of Photography Included in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent film collection, Cinema du Real, Carnegie Hall Cinema 1983 Portrait of America - Puerto Rico TBS Director, Director of Photography Peabody Award Winner, CINE Golden Eagle 1984 Los Sures PBS Director of PhotographyNew York Film Festival, American Film Festival - Blue Ribbon, Global Village Festival 1985 Wall Street Connection WCBS Director of Photography Emmy - Outstanding Documentary (nominated) 1985 National Geographic Explorer: Smoke Jumpers National Geographic Society Producer, Director 1986 Frontline - Inside the Jury Room PBS Director of Photography Blue Ribbon Award, American Film and Video Festival Monitor Award Best Public Affairs Program (nominated) and Best Editing (nominated) 1987 National Geographic's Atocha: Quest for Treasure National Geographic Society Director of Photography American Film Festival, Houston Film Festival - Best Documentary Film, Cine Golden Eagle 1988 The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis PBS Director of Photography American Film Festival, Blue Ribbon Awards, Best Film - WON, News & Documentary Emmy Awards - WON 1988 Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen HBO Director of Photography 1988 Mondo New York Island Picture Camera Operator 1988 Driving Me Crazy TMG Additional Camera 1989 How to Raise a Drug Free Kid HBO Director of Photography ACE Award - Educational Special (WON) 1989 Badlands Director of Photography Monitor Award 1990 Takeover PBS Director of Photography Sundance Film Festival 1991 Blowback Director of Photography 1991 The Home Front with Bill Moyers PBS Director of Photography duPont-Columbia Award - Gold Baton 1992 Damned in the USA PBS Director of Photography WINNER International Emmy Best Arts Documentary 1991, WINNER Silver Plaque Chicago International Festival 1991, WINNER Melbourne Festival 1991, Edinburgh Film Festival 1991, Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York 1991, Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival 1991, Rotterdam Film Festival 1992, Cork Film Festival 1991, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, New York 1992 1993 The Last Party Triton/ Live Home Video Director, Director of Photography Mill Valley Film Festival 1994 Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock HBO Director of Photography CableACE Award for Best Documentary, 1994 A Time of AIDS The Discovery Channel Director of Photography International Emmy - WON 1995 Talking Sex HBO Director of Photography National Emmy 1995 VH1's The Goods by Todd Oldham VH1 Producer, Director 1996 Prisoners of the War on Drugs HBO Director of Photography 1997 CIA: America's Secret Warriors Discovery Channel Director of Photography duPont-Columbia Award, CableACE - Best Director (nominated) 1997-2001 Egg The Arts Show/ City Arts PBS Director of Photography New York Emmy Award - series 1998 Dead Blue: Surviving Depression HBO Director of Photography Emmy Award: Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Special - WON 1998 Naked City: Justice with a Bullet Paramount Television, Magnum Productions Additional Photography 1998 Slam Lions Gate Director of Photography New York Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize - Sundance Film Festival, Camera D'Or & Prix du Public - Cannes Film Festival, 1998 Black Film and Video Network's Reel Black Award 1999 Thug Life in D.C. HBO Director of Photography Emmy for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special, National Council on Crime and Delinquency PASS Award, First Place Winner 32nd Annual Media Awards Competition, National Council on Family Relations 1999 Whiteboyz 20th Century Fox Director of Photography 2000 Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop Producer, Director, Director of Photography Urban World Film Festival, Latino Film Festival, Santa Fe Film Festival 2000 Soldiers in the Army of God HBO Director of Photography NARAL Courageous Advocate Award 2000 EGG, The Arts Show: Who Am I? PBS Producer 2001 Brooklyn Babylon Lions Gate, Artisan Entertainment, Canal + Director of Photography Slamdance (Opening Night film), Hawaii International Film Festival 2001 School's In Disney Channel Producer, Director, Director of Photography 2002 Middle School Confessions HBO Family Additional Camera 2002 Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder HBO Director of Photography 2002 The Trials of Henry Kissinger BBC Director of Photography Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival 2002: Amnesty International - DOEN Award - WON, Independent Spirit Awards 2003 - Truer Than Fiction Award - NOMINATED 2003 Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius Hook Mitchell Director of Photography Tribeca Film Festival 2003 The Blues: Godfathers and Sons PBS Director of Photography Venice Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival 2003 Dave Mathews Band: The Central Park Concert RCA Records Label Camera Operator 2003 Retrospective Director, Cameraman Edison Film Festival 2003 Going Home HBO Director, Director of Photography Contemporary Documentary Series — presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Academy Foundation and the UCLA Film & Television Archive 2004 On the Outs Fader Films, Youth House Productions Director of Photography - 2nd Unit Toronto Film Festival 2004 The First Amendment Project: Poetic License PBS Director of Photography 2004 America Undercover: Back in the Hood: Gang War II HBO Director of Photography 2004 Art in Progress: Philip Pearlstein Director of Photography 2005 Protocols of Zion HBO/Cinemax and ThinkFilm Director of Photography Berlin Film Festival, Sundance, Gold Hugo - Chicago International Film Festival (Best Documentary - nominated) 2005 The American Ruling Class The Alive Mind Director of Photography Aired on Sundance Channel 2007 The Music in Me: A Family Special HBO Family Director, Director of Photography Peabody Award Winner 2008 Why We Fight Now Military Channel Director, Director of Photography 2009 Brick City - Season 1 SundanceTV Executive Producer, Director 2009 Peabody Award Winner, 2010 Golden Eagle Cine Award, Emmy - Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking (nominated), NAACP Image Award (nominated), International Documentary Association (IDA) 2010 - Continuing Series (nominated) 2010 Dirty Old Town Producer New York Independent Film Festival, Royal Flush Film Festival 2010 Brick City Season 2 SundanceTV Executive Producer, Director TIME - Top Television Shows of 2011 (Honorable Mention), 2012 News and Documentary Emmy for "Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form" (nominated) 2011 The After Party: The Last Party 3 Cameraman New York Los Angeles International Film Festival - Best Documentary Feature - WINNER, Duke City DocFest - Freedom of Speech Award - WINNER, Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood - Best Documentary Feature - WINNER, ThrillSpy International Film Festival - Best Documentary - WINNER 2012 Second Coming?: Will Black America Decide the 2012 Election BET Executive Producer, Director Cronkite Award - National Network Programming - BET (awarded as part of the network's election coverage) 2013 Jersey Strong Pivot Executive Producer, Director 2013 Flex is Kings Consulting Producer Tribeca Film Festival, Somerville Subterranean Cinema 2014 Chicagoland CNN Executive Producer, Director, Director of Photography Silver Hugo Award - Chicago International Film Festival 2014 IDA: International Documentary Association: Best Limited Series Award - Nominated 2016 Rikers PBS Producer, Director of Photography DOCNYC , 2017 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award 2016 Oceans Warriors Animal Planet / Discovery Executive Producer, Director Best Long Form Series Award, Jackson Hole 2018 Chasing the Thunder Discovery+ / Vulcan Productions Co-Director EarthxFilm 2025 Fatal Watch Journeyman Pictures Co-Director, Producer Certificate of Merit, Donald Gosling Award, Maritime Media Awards