Ben Lear
Director
Ben Lear is an award-winning filmmaker and composer. He graduated from NYU in 2010 with a degree in music composition. For his senior recital, Lear wrote and performed his folk-opera Lillian, about a man who travels to the great Pacific garbage patch to reclaim all he’s lost, with a 20-piece orchestra and light show. Upon the album’s release, he partnered with Plastic Pollution Coalition and 5Gyres to raise awareness for plastic pollution. This work has led Lear to performances at TED and the UN. In 2016, Lear debuted his first feature documentary, They Call Us Monsters, at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film won Best Documentary at the Las Vegas Film Festival, reached #1 on the iTunes documentary charts, and aired on Independent Lens in May of 2017. As a result of making that film, Lear sits on the board of InsideOUT Writers and is an ally member with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, teaching a weekly writing class in juvenile hall and mentoring the formerly incarcerated upon reentry.