I’m an independent documentary filmmaker, multimedia storyteller, and video editor with three years of professional experience. I seek inspiration and humanity in every story that I touch. 

Ben Suliteanu

San Francisco Bay Area, CA

English, Spanish

Volunteering, mountain biking, backpacking, anything that involves being out in the wild outdoors

I love a good story. I love finding one in a novel, a poem, a scripture, a film, or a podcast. But most of all, I love life stories. A human life is perhaps the greatest and most relatable story of all.

There’s nothing better than meeting someone that has their life story at the ready. You sit and listen and are transported into a world of their darkest tragedies and strongest triumphs. In most people, you have to be still and listen for a long time to even get fragments of their story.

For me, documentary is a way of seeing and hearing and sharing life stories. It can never paint a complete picture, but it’s the most engaging challenge I know to try to get close.

I believe that every life story is worth telling. Every story has a thread of light. Every life has salt. The lives that are riddled with crippling tragedy are often shining the brightest. That’s what I’m hoping to capture, a light shining in the darkness.

EMERGENCE MAGAZINE

Emergence Magazine is an online publication seeking to restore a connection to the natural world through exploration of stories of spirituality, ecology, and culture.

Roles for the magazine include video editor, podcast editor, sound recorder, second camera, and assistant video editor. Have also written content and assisted with web design.

MIGRANT FILMS

Assistant editor of The Fire and the Bird’s Nest, a feature-length documentary that follows a family living off the land in the rural Areng Valley of Cambodia. This will be the second feature-length documentary from director, Kalyanee Mam. Her first feature, A River Changes Course, won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema.

SAMMCO

SAMMCO is an agency which provides crews of media professionals to broadcast Bay Area sporting events.

Served as in-arena board show cameraman for Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants games.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

Season long internship with the championship basketball team. Operated camera and served as camera utility during game days for live board show feed. Edited content for online distribution.

FORBES

Integrated with video team to plan, shoot, and edit content published on Forbes.com. Primary editor of several pieces published during internship.