Benjamin Harold Zeitlin (; born October 14, 1982) is an American filmmaker, best known for writing and directing the 2012 film Beasts of the Southern Wild, for which he received two Academy Award nominations.

Early life

Zeitlin was born in Manhattan and raised in Sunnyside, Queens, New York, and in suburban Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. He is a graduate of Hastings High School and Wesleyan University. He was born to writers and folklorists Mary Amanda Dargan and Steven Joel Zeitlin, who founded the NYC non-profit cultural organization City Lore. His father, who is Jewish, spent most of his childhood in Brazil; whereas his mother comes from a rural, Protestant background in Darlington, South Carolina. His younger sister is screenwriter and artist Eliza Zeitlin.

Career

In 2004, Zeitlin co-founded the Court 13 independent collection of filmmakers, named after a neglected Wesl…Read more on Wikipedia