Benjamin Barfoot

Benjamin Barfoot

Director

WinnerBest International FeatureStrasbourg

LonglistedBest Debut DirectorBIFA

Official selectionFantastic Fest

About Benjamin Barfoot

Benjamin Barfoot is a film director who writes, directs, shoots, edits and scores. He has directed two feature films, Daddy’s Head for Shudder and Double Date for UK cinemas, and more than a decade of documentaries for BBC Panorama, BBC Click, BBC Studios and Vice. Represented by Curtis Brown (London) and Anonymous Content (Los Angeles).

Awards and selections: Winner, Best International Feature, Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival; Longlisted, Best Debut Director, British Independent Film Awards; Official selection, Fantastic Fest; Official selection, Edinburgh International Film Festival; Nominee, Broadcast Young Talent Awards.

Read more about Benjamin Barfoot. Contact: [email protected].

Feature films

Daddy’s Head

Written and directed by Benjamin Barfoot. 2024

A grieving stepmother and her stepson are locked together in a house after the sudden death of the father.

A claustrophobic psychological horror about isolation, family trauma and emotional repression. Premiered at Fantastic Fest in Austin and released on Shudder.

Recognition: Official selection, Fantastic Fest; New York Times: Top 3 Halloween films; Rotten Tomatoes: 85% critics.

  • Role: Writer, director, editor, composer
  • Premiere: Fantastic Fest, Austin
  • Release: Shudder

Watch the Daddy’s Head trailer on YouTube

Double Date

Directed by Benjamin Barfoot. 2017

A violent and sharply funny horror-comedy over one night in London. Two friends, one blind double date, and a brutal turn.

Born from a run of DIY comedy shorts with writer-star Danny Morgan. Scored by the band Goat, with Benjamin arranging the music.

Recognition: Winner, Best International Feature, Strasbourg; Official selection, Edinburgh International Film Festival; Longlisted, Best Debut Director, BIFA.

  • Role: Director, editor, music arranger
  • Premiere: Edinburgh International Film Festival
  • Release: UK cinemas, Amazon Prime

Watch the Double Date trailer on YouTube

Documentary and branded

The AI filmmaking test

With AI correspondent Marc Cieslak

Commissioned by BBC News to test the latest AI filmmaking tools against a feature director’s craft.

Shot on one simple camera in a BBC studio, then rebuilt as a snowy mountainside with an erupting volcano.

  • Client: BBC News
  • With: Marc Cieslak, BBC AI correspondent
  • Broadcast: BBC One, One O’Clock and Six O’Clock News

How AI learns to see

BBC Click, AI in the NHS

Commissioned by BBC Click to show how an AI learns to spot breast cancer.

Medical students race an AI to read the scans. Within seconds, it works out the pattern for itself.

  • Client: BBC Click
  • Programme: A special on AI in the NHS

How 5G connects everything

An explainer for BBC Panorama on how 5G connects phones, cars and whole cities.

  • Client: BBC Panorama
  • Format: Explainer

When photoreal stops being real

BBC Click, with James Cameron

Commissioned by BBC Click to visually represent what James Cameron was describing: the day visual effects become impossible to tell from reality.

  • Client: BBC Click
  • With: James Cameron

The Scalpers

For the BBC. Inside the bots that cleared PS5s off the shelves and sold them back at triple the price.

  • Client: BBC

From dots and dashes to 5G

Opening film, RTS awards

Commissioned by the Royal Television Society as the opening film for its awards night, hosted by Spencer Kelly.

Victorian Morse code to the phone in your pocket, in one sweep.

  • Client: Royal Television Society
  • Event: RTS awards, hosted by Spencer Kelly