About

Amy Bench is a cinematographer and filmmaker whose work spans documentary and fiction films. Her film MORE THAN I WANT TO REMEMBER (Paramount+, 2022) won a 2023 NAACP Image Award and was shortlisted for a 2023 Oscar.

Her current project, BREAKING SILENCE (Independent Lens, 2023) is co-directed with Annie Silverstein, and is enjoying a rich festival run. In 2023 the film won both a SXSW Jury Award and an Audience Award and is available on PBS via Independent Lens.

As a cinematographer her credits include TRANS IN AMERICA (Emmy, 2019), UPROOTED (HBO Max, 2021), BAD AT DANCING (Silver Bear, Berlinale, 2015), HOLY HELL (Sundance, 2016) and RUNNING WITH BETO (SXSW, 2019). Her camera work has won an Emmy, 2 Webby awards, and has screened at festivals including Berlin, SXSW, Sundance, The New York Film Festival, and at MOMA/PS1. Upcoming feature cinematography includes collaborations with Julie Cohen (RBG, Julia), Kim Snyder (Newtown, Us Kids), Daresha Kyi (Chavela), Michael Tully (Ping Pong Summer), and Gretchen Stoeltje (Bionic Beauty Salon).

Her 2019 film A LINE BIRDS CANNOT SEE won awards at SXSW, Cleveland, Oak Cliff Film Festival, Bend Film Festival, and IndieGrits, and is currently featured online on THE NEW YORKER.

MORE THAN I WANT TO REMEMBER is available on Paramount Plus, and is traveling globally through the SIMA Foundation and nationally through LunaFest in 2023. The film received support from the IDA Enterprise Fund from the International Documentary Association.

Her current project, BREAKING SILENCE, is co-directed with Annie Silverstein, is enjoying a rich festival run. In 2023 the film won both a SXSW Jury Award and an Audience Award and will be distributed on PBS via Independent Lens later in 2023.

She is a member of the International Collective of Female Cinematographers (ICFC), Documentary Cinematographers Allicance (DCA), and the ICOSA Collective.

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After obtaining her MFA, Amy spent a few years in New York, working on a number of projects with Maysles Films, camera assisting on “30 Rock,” shooting for MTV’s high school reality series “MADE,” and studying photography with documentary photographer Amy Arbus.

Her first documentary film HOUSE OF ELEGANCE, about the transformative powers of a historic beauty salon in Austin’s diverse and ever-changing East Side, was featured on the Independent Lens online shorts festival, and was part of a Lonestar Emmy winning episode of the KLRU series “Docubloggers” in 2007.

Her film THE VILLE, about one of St Louis’s most racially charged yet historically significant neighborhoods, won a Juror’s Citation the Black Maria film festival, “Best Local Documentary” at the St. Louis International Film Festival, and numerous awards at other festivals. It was described as “lyrical” and considered a “totally captivating look at contemporary urban America” by the Missoula Independent.

Her first feature film as a Director of Photography, LOVES HER GUN, tackles the issue of guns in modern society, and won the Louis Black Spirit of Texas Award premiered at SXSW (2013). The film, though based on actual events, was largely improvised and relied on intuitive and sensitive camerawork and close collaboration with director Geoff Marslett.

She was an additional cinematographer on the Sundance documentary HOLY HELL (2016), based on 25 years of footage inside a spiritual cult, and how the former members have transformed their lives since leaving the community.

Her short film BAD AT DANCING won the Golden Bear at Berlinale (2015).

Amy is currently shooting documentaries, features, and music videos in Austin, New York, and Los Angeles.

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