Ben Willis

Ben Willis is an award winning filmmaker and educator. Since 2010 he has been a passionate advocate for using visual storytelling to help students discover their voice.

Teaching Awards

• 2016: National Association of Secretaries of State recognized Ben’s work with the Civic Life Project “For promoting good citizenship using dynamic models of civic education through video storytelling”.

• 2017: Ben was one of just 5 teachers nationwide selected to participate in IMAX InFocus. A program where IMAX supported Ben’s documentary programs working with inner city youth and students with learning disabilities.

• 2021: The CT Arts Council named Ben a 2021 Arts Fellow for his “teaching and community building” during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ben partnered with the Upper Housatonic Heritage Area to preserve a summer film program which gave students summer jobs in 2020, where they created short documentaries about sites in the Housatonic River Valley with scientific, historical or cultural significance.

• 2024: Edward R Murrow Nominee, Ben’s work with Across The Fence, an educational television program in New England has been nominated for two Edward R Murrow awards.

W.B. Willis Productions: How It All Started

W.B. Willis Films is the passion project of Filmmaker & Educator Ben Willis. In 2012 while he was working as an assistant director on independent films, and producing a number of short documentaries Ben was given an opportunity to teach a class of inner city youth about documentary filmmaking with the non-profit “Civic Life Project”. The goal of the program was to help students find their voice by creating short documentaries about social and political issues impacting their communities.

The first day was an intimidating one. A previous teacher with the program had found the group of teens, aged 16-19 to be to overwhelming, and Ben had offered to step in and give it a shot. The students were wary of this new person entering their orbit, and Ben walked into a fairly hostile environment. But always a positive educator who brings fun, professionalism and technical expertise into the classroom he was not deterred. At the end of the first class a student asked “Will you be coming back.” Ben replied, “I’m coming back everyday until this project is done”. And he did. At the end of the year the film exploring the lack of after-school activities in the community gained the students positive attention, including a meeting with the Mayor of Stamford, CT. The film went on to be an official selection at multiple student film festivals. The students even created a massive card, thanking him for sticking with them all year.

After that Ben was hooked and he kept on teaching, working with students at 12 different schools to create over 60 films over a five year period with the Civic Life Project. The films covered all aspects of American life and helped many students to find the confidence to speak up. Not all students went on to become filmmakers, that was never the idea. The goal was to give students confidence through small victories and giving them the personal strength to chart their own course in life. At the end of his time with the program Ben came up with the idea for the Civic Life Youth Film Challenge, a now annual film competition which challenges youth all over the country to make documentaries about issues impacting their communities.

After leaving the Civic Life Project Ben went on to create an award winning film program at The Marvelwood School in Kent, CT. He has served as a history day judge (for the filmmaking section of course), and has mentored students on their projects. Ben has helped found a number of experiential learning programs including The Housatonic Heritage Area’s Video Exploration Program, a summer program dedicated to telling stories about local history, environmental and cultural sites. More recently Ben helped found The Troutbeck Symposium with colleague Rhonan Mokriski. Ben took the lessons of past programs and worked to create something unique. The symposium partners with teachers to create project based learning opportunities for students interested in uncovering undertold stories of BIPOC history. Ben’s goal was to create a program which was inclusive and encouraged as many students as possible to dive deeper into local history; there is no limit or restrictions on the types of projects that students can submit, and there are no entry fees. The symposium just completed it’s third year.