Occupation Filmmaker Years active 2011–present | Name Benton Cade Alma mater Durham University | |
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Born 16 June 1983 (age 40) ( 1983-06-16 ) Reading, England | ||
Benton Cade (born 16 June 1983) is an English filmmaker originally from Reading. He has lived in China since 2004, first in Anhui province and then in Beijing. In 2011, he wrote and directed the award-winning documentary Sky Ghosts.
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Early life
Cade grew up in Reading. He attended the University of Durham, graduating with a degree in East Asian Studies in mid-2004.
Career in China
Cade came to China in late 2004, moving to the small city of Lu'an in western Anhui province. Intrigued by the traditional Taoist rituals in the area, in 2011 he shot what would eventually become the documentary Sky Ghosts with equipment borrowed from the local TV station. The following year, Sky Ghosts won the Zhang Yuan Award for best international documentary about China at the 2nd Beijing International Film Festival.
His second documentary, Red Son, continued the religious theme by focusing on the history and development of Catholicism in China. Following its early 2013 release, Cade and his crew began work on their third feature Tracks. Filmed on location in Sichuan province, Tracks documents the lives of wild and captive pandas over the course of a year. It was released in China in December 2014.
Besides focusing on his own documentaries, Cade has also worked as a cultural consultant on international co-productions that shoot in China. His most high profile project in this capacity was Iron Man 3, which shot a number of scenes in Beijing purely for the film's Chinese release.
In mid-2017, Cade was hired to direct the international co-production Red Star, based on an original script by Rob Hemsley. Set in China, Laos, and the United States, Red Star is Cade's first work of fiction.