Benjamin Cleary’s short film STUTTERER won the Oscar for Best Live Action                        Short Film at the 88th Academy Awards.

Benjamin is an Oscar winning writer/director from Dublin. He recently released his first feature SWAN SONG for Apple TV+. The feature stars Mahershala Ali who has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. Benjamin is currently working on a virtual reality animation called ‘Glimpse’ with his company Mr Kite. He is also working on a short content piece with Assembly for Amnesty International in support of worldwide freedom of speech.

In 2015 Benjamin wrote and directed his short film ‘Stutterer’. The film has played at over 100 festivals and has won over 25 awards including an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2016, a Cannes Young Director Award, a London Critic’s Circle Award and an Irish Film and Television Award.

Benjamin’s other short film ‘Wave’ featuring Jarvis Cocker premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017.  Wave has since been selected for 34 top festivals including BFI, Melbourne, Aspen and Clermont and has won 14 awards to date including and Irish Film and Television Award 2018, as well as top prizes at Flickerfest, Toronto Shorts, Galway, Leeds, Cork, Kerry and Aesthetica.

SWAN SONG
2021
Feature film
Writer/Director
Anonymous Content / Apple TV+

WAVE
2017
Short film
Writer & Co-director
WINNER – Best Live Action Film – Irish Film and Television Awards 2017
WINNER – Best Foreign Film – Toronto International Shorts Festival 2018
WINNER – Best Short Film – Cork International Film Festival 2017
WINNER – Best Of Fest – Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2017
WINNER – Best Drama – Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2017
WINNER – Audience Award – Leeds International Film Festival 2017
WINNER – Best Drama – Galway Film Festival 2017
WINNER – Best Drama – Kerry International Film Festival 2017
WINNER – Best Film – Offline Film Festival 2017
WINNER – Best Film – Richard Harris International Film Festival 2017
WINNER – Audience Award – Cine Gael Montreal 2018
Official Selection – European Independent Film Festival 2018
Official Selection – Tribeca Film Festival 2017
Official Selection – BFI London Film Festival 2017

STUTTERER
2015
Short film
Writer, director, editor
Selected for PANORAMA DES NUITS EN OR, screened by Académie Des César in 9 European capitals, and Montreal
Nominated – Irish Film and Television Awards 2016
Winner – 88th Academy Awards 2016 – Best Live Action Short Film
Winner – LONDON CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD 2016 – Best short film
Winner – BEST FOREIGN FILM at LA Shorts Fest 2015
Winner – AUDIENCE AWARD at the DC Shorts Film Festival 2015
Winner – AUDIENCE AWARD and JURY SPECIAL MENTION at OFFLine Film Festival 2015
Winner – AUDIENCE AWARD at Kerry Film Festival 2015
Winner – BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM at Kerry Film Festival 2015
Winner – BEST DRAMA at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2015
Winner – Young Director’s Award Ireland 2016
Winner BEST SHORT FILM, Manchester Film Festival 2015
Winner – AUDIENCE AWARD, Landshut Film Festival

THE GREAT FALL
2014
Short animated film
Writer
Funded by Irish Film Board

LOVE IS A STING
2014
Short film
Writer
Part live-action, part animation film directed by Vincent Gallagher, with voiceover by Ciaran Hinds, awarded £10,000 funding prize in the RTE/Filmbase competition 2013.
Nominated – Irish Film and Television Awards 2016
Winner – Best Short Drama, Cork International Film Festival 2015
Winner – Best Short Film, Waterford Film Festival 2015
Winner – Best Narrative Short, Clones Short Film Festival 2015
Winner – Audience Award, Richard Harris International Film Festival 2015

Further writing and directing work

Ben’s short film ‘Kindred’ was directed by YDA Cannes winner Stevie Russell, with whom he is now developing a feature film. Several of his short film scripts as a writer have won competitions and numerous projects have been picked up by film funding schemes. Ben has also written 7 episodes of a 35 part children’s series for RTÉ.