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Benoît "Ben" Stassen is a Director, Scriptwriter, Producer and Editor Belge born on 1 january 1959

Benoît "Ben" Stassen

Benoît "Ben" Stassen
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Nationality Belgique
Birth 1 january 1959 (65 years)

Ben Stassen is a Belgian film producer and director. He founded nWave Pictures in 1994, producing highly successful CGI ride films including the groundbreaking Devils Mine. Starting in 1997, Ben Stassen began focusing on large format films usually screened at IMAX theaters, and made some of the most successful large format films to date, including Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun and Alien Adventure. Contrary to most large format films, which mix education with spectacular visuals, most of Stassen's films are aimed exclusively at the entertainment market. As IMAX theaters around the world increasingly became capable of screening stereoscopic (3-D) films in the late nineties, Stassen quickly embraced this new technology, and directed a succession of popular 3-D large format films, such as Encounter in the Third Dimension and Haunted Castle. Upon screening "Haunted Castle", Imax corporation sent a fax to all the exhibitors warning them about the content of the film. Imax went as far as labeling "Haunted Castle" as degrading to the brand. This triggered a strong reaction from both the exhibitors and the press. The film was marketed as "The film Imax corporation does not want you to see". It went on the become a huge success worldwide.

In 2004, Stassen produced and directed "Wild Safari", the first 3D wildlife film for the giant screen (Imax).

nWave is also the leading producer and distributor of 3D ride films and 4D attraction films with over 30 titles in their library. Over 200,000 people a day see one of nWave's films in theme parks, science centers, zoo, aquaria and musea around the world.

Ben Stassen's first feature length animated film, Fly Me to the Moon, was released in North America on 15 August 2008 on both regular size and IMAX screens, exclusively in 3-D. According to nWave, Fly Me to the Moon was the first animated film to be designed, created, and released solely in 3-D. The film was originally announced for the spring or summer of 2007. The delay is believed to be the result of the slow roll-out of 3-D projection technology.

On 7 May 2008, nWave announced that its next feature length animated film would be titled Around the World in 50 Years and that it too would be directed by Ben Stassen. It was released in 2010 titled Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage.

Stassen was also involved in the production of several movies directed by famed Croatian film director Krsto Papić, most notably "My Uncle's Legacy" (Život sa stricem), the film was nominated for a Golden Globe (Best Foreign Film category) in 1990.

Stassen is widely quoted as a leading pioneer of 3D cinema, considering 3D as the 2nd revolution in the history of cinema, second only to the transition from silent film to the talkies. He mostly refers to American 3D film as 2.5 D cinema. In his opinion most filmmakers do not make any effort to use 3D as a new language of cinema. They simply shoot their 2D films with two cameras creating a little depth behind the screen with the odd in-your-face effect. He is also quite outspoken about the inadequacies of the 3D digital theaters. The essence of 3D cinema is its ability to greatly enhance the sense of immersion in the story being told. But there is no way to achieve real immersion unless you have floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall screens. The image must fill you field of vision as much as possible. The long term viability of 3D cinema will depend on the exhibitors willingness to build theaters designed specifically for 3D immersion.

nWave Pictures is currently producing two 3D features. The sequel to Sammy's Adventures ("Escape From Paradise") and African Safari 3D, a live action 3D adventure documentary taking the audience from the cost of Skeleton Coast in Namibia to the top of the Kilimanjaro.

Biography

Il est issu d'une famille d'industriels actifs dans la production de cidre à Aubel.

Il effectue ses études de sciences politiques à la Katholieke Universiteit Leuven puis en cinéma à l'Université de Californie du Sud.

En 1994, il crée nWave Pictures, société qui produit des films CGI à succès. En 1997, Ben Stassen commence à réaliser des courts-métrages au format IMAX. Ouvert en 2002, Pandadroom à Efteling a été réalisé par MoveTRIX, une filiale de nWave Pictures.

Le premier long-métrage entièrement réalisé en 3D, Fly Me To the Moon, sort en 2008 en Europe, puis en Amérique du Nord.

En 2010, Around The World in 50 Years, en français Le Voyage extraordinaire de Samy, apparaît sur les écrans. La suite, Sammy 2 sort le 15 août 2012. Le 25 décembre 2013 sort son quatrième long-métrage en 3D, Le Manoir magique.

Best films

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Benoît "Ben" Stassen (12 films)

Display filmography as list

Director

The Queen's Corgi, 1h32
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Animation
Actors Jack Whitehall, Julie Walters, Sheridan Smith, Joanna Wyatt, Tom Courtenay, Mari Devon
Rating49% 2.4779952.4779952.4779952.4779952.477995
Rex, le chien Corgi préféré de la Reine d'Angleterre, voit sa vie paradisiaque bouleversée après avoir mordu par inadvertance le Président des Etats-Unis, Donald Trump, en essayant d'échapper à la chienne de ce dernier, Mitzy, puis s’être enfui par honte pour finir par être considéré comme mort après avoir failli mourir au fond d’un lac. Enfermé dans un chenil, Rex comprend que c'est Charlie, un autre des chiens de la reine qui, convoitant sa place, à tout manigancé. Aidé par ses nouveaux amis, Jack, Chief et Wanda, Rex va ainsi tout faire pour s'évader, récupérer sa place dans le palais royal ainsi que le cœur de sa maîtresse.
The Son of Bigfoot, 1h31
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Comedy, Animation
Actors Joe Thomas, Alexis Victor, Jeff Doucette, Terrence Stone, Mari Devon, Kirk Thornton
Rating61% 3.061953.061953.061953.061953.06195
Adam, un jeune garçon, vit seul avec sa mère. Il découvre un jour des indices sur son père disparu et décide de découvrir ses origines. Adam part à la recherche de réponses et découvre que son père n'est autre que le Bigfoot. Il se découvre également des capacités surhumaines. C'est alors que des scientifiques capturent le Bigfoot. Adam et ses nouveaux amis, un pivert, un écureuil, deux ratons laveurs et un ours, partent à son secours. Commence alors une aventure. Ils entrent dans le laboratoire où est retenu le bigfoot. Entre-temps, les gardes découvrent qu'Adam est aussi un bigfoot. Ils préviennent leur patron qui décide de capturer Adam et de tuer son père en le faisant tomber d'une falaise. Adam parvient à se libérer, fait sauter le laboratoire et saute du pont pour sauver son père. Il le découvre sans vie. En pleurant à ses côtés, il découvre qu'il a la capacité de guérir et de sauver son père, qui finit par se réveiller. À partir de ce moment, Adam vit avec toute sa famille en compagnie de tous ses amis de la forêt qui l'aident à faire peur à trois garçons.
Robinson Crusoé, 1h30
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Comedy, Adventure, Animation
Themes Films about animals, Films about birds
Actors Matthias Schweighöfer, Dieter Hallervorden, Aylin Tezel, Emmanuel Garijo, Jean-Claude Donda, Adeline Chetail
Rating53% 2.6621552.6621552.6621552.6621552.662155
L’histoire commence sur un bateau pirate au large du Pacifique Sud. Après une course poursuite sur tout le bateau, deux souris volant un gâteau et un chat, réveille le pirate de la vigie. Il remarque au loin un feu sur une île, et le signale au capitaine Long John Silver, qui décide d’aller porter secours à l’homme pendu contre les " bêtes féroces " et de prendre ce qui est "clinquant".
African Safari, 1h26
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Documentary
Themes Films about animals, Environmental films, Documentaire animalier, Documentary films about environmental issues, Documentary films about nature
Actors Kevin Richardson, Kevin Michael Richardson
Rating61% 3.055813.055813.055813.055813.05581
Kevin Richardson et Mara Douglais, experts de la faune et la flore, embarquent pour un périple de plus de 6 000 kilomètres depuis la côte Atlantique de la Namibie jusqu'au sommet du Kilimandjaro (Tanzanie), en passant par le Botswana, le Zimbabwe et la Zambie. Grâce à la technologie 3D et une montgolfière dirigeable, la « Cinébule », pilotée par Dany Cleyet-Marrel, aéronaute français, les paysages les plus retirés d'Afrique peuplés de nombreuses espèces animales menacées d'extinction sont découverts : les éléphants, les rhinocéros, les lions, les guépards…
The House of Magic, 1h25
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Fantasy, Animation
Themes Films about animals, Jeu, Films about cats, Films about dogs, Mise en scène d'un lapin ou d'un lièvre, Mise en scène d'un rongeur, Films about toys, Mise en scène d'une souris, Children's films, Mise en scène d'un mammifère
Actors Ethel Houbiers, Grant R. George, Henri Bungert, Patrick Poivey, Edward Asnere, Alexis Victor
Rating61% 3.099913.099913.099913.099913.09991
A human girl opens her car's door and throws a toy to the walkside, making out to her cat. This one, realizing that he has been abandoned by her owner, looking for a refuge when a storm explodes, comes to an old house with fame of cursed in the neighborhood. Trying to escape from it, he is threaten by a white rabbit called Jack and a white mouse called Maggie, ordering him to leave the house before Zoltar's see him. Zoltar, an nice and old magician, finds the cat and he decides to adopt him, putting the name of Thunder after his fear to the storm.
A Turtle's Tale 2: Sammy's Escape from Paradise, 1h32
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Adventure, Animation
Themes Films about animals, Film d'animation mettant en scène un animal, Mise en scène d'une tortue, Children's films, Reptile
Actors Franck Dubosc, Billy Unger, IU (아이유), Pat Carroll, Kaitlyn Maher, Dino Andrade
Rating56% 2.8089152.8089152.8089152.8089152.808915
Sammy and Ray are supervising their new offspring, when seagulls attack them and both Sammy and Ray and two of their grandchildren Ella and Ricky are captured on trawler. While Ella and Ricky are separated and sent to the seabed, Sammy and Ray are taken to an aquarium with Lulu, a lobster with dissociative identity disorder and Jimbo a bug-eyed blobfish. Escape plans are run and tried by the leading seahorse Big D. Ella and Ricky set out with Annabel and Margaret, the pink octopus mother and daughter in order to rescue their grandfathers, getting chased by a pair of barracudas when they get there. After much communication trouble, Ella and Ricky interpret from Sammy that in order to escape the aquarium several squids expel ink into the ventilation system, while all the aquarium inhabitants play dead. Before initiating the escape plan, Sammy and Ray get the tyrannical Big D out of the way. The reluctant aquarium manager opens the emergency doors allowing all sea creatures out to freedom.
A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures, 1h25
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Animation
Themes Films about animals, Seafaring films, Transport films, Film d'animation mettant en scène un animal, Mise en scène d'une tortue, Children's films, Reptile
Actors Gemma Arterton, Dany Boon, Yuri Lowenthal, Dominic Cooper, John Hurt, Isabelle Fuhrman
Rating60% 3.0000953.0000953.0000953.0000953.000095
Sammy, a Green sea turtle, hatches on a deserted beach and while trying to climb up a sand slope is caught by a seagull. He manages to escape along with another hatchling sea turtle caught by a seagull named Shelly. Sammy falls onto an old raft and gets carried into the open ocean, losing Shelly. Later he befriends a leatherback hatchling named Ray. The two friends grow up together.
Fly Me to the Moon, 1h28
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Science fiction, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Animation
Themes Films about animals, Space adventure films, Films about the Apollo program, Sur la Lune, Comedy science fiction films, Films about insects, Children's films
Actors Nicollette Sheridan, Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Robert Patrick, Trevor Gagnon, Philip Daniel Bolden
Rating45% 2.258562.258562.258562.258562.25856
The narrator explains that in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Earth's first satellite Sputnik 1 into orbit. Four years later in 1961, when NASA was putting a monkey named Enos aboard Mercury Atlas 5, astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man on Earth to go to space. The Soviets were beating the Americans in every milestone off the planet. Feeling the sense of urgency to overtake the Soviets in the space race, U.S. President John F. Kennedy made a huge statement toward a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, stating that before the decade is out, he plans to launch the man to the Moon and return him safely to the Earth.
Haunted House, 13minutes
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen

You see the world from the eyes of a black cat that walks around in a moonlit night. Later the cat enters an old spooky house. Everything looks perfectly normal. But wait, did those toys actually move?
Haunted Castle, 38minutes
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Genres Thriller, Horror, Animation
Actors Harry Shearer
Rating53% 2.6610152.6610152.6610152.6610152.661015
A young American musician and singer named Johnny (played by Jasper Steverlinck, singer of Belgian rock band Arid) has been notified by a British law firm that his mother (voiced by Kyoko Baertsoen, leader of another Belgian band, Lunascape), an aging rock star whom Johnny hasn't seen or heard from since he was 3 years old, has died in a helicopter accident. Johnny has been willed her castle and all of her property and money, but he must visit the actual estate, located in England, to claim these things. As he drives up to the castle, a lightning bolt hits a grave on the castle grounds, and a glowing sphere emerges.
Alien Adventure, 37minutes
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Genres Science fiction, Fantasy, Animation
Actors Bouli Lanners
Rating51% 2.573242.573242.573242.573242.57324
The movie begins with an extraterrestrial humanoid species, the Glegoliths, wandering through space in search of a new world. Encountering an unknown planet (which turns out to be Earth), the Glegolith leader (Cyrillus) sends two "manned" probes to the surface to determine if it is suitable for colonisation.

Scriptwriter

The House of Magic, 1h25
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Fantasy, Animation
Themes Films about animals, Jeu, Films about cats, Films about dogs, Mise en scène d'un lapin ou d'un lièvre, Mise en scène d'un rongeur, Films about toys, Mise en scène d'une souris, Children's films, Mise en scène d'un mammifère
Actors Ethel Houbiers, Grant R. George, Henri Bungert, Patrick Poivey, Edward Asnere, Alexis Victor
Rating61% 3.099913.099913.099913.099913.09991
A human girl opens her car's door and throws a toy to the walkside, making out to her cat. This one, realizing that he has been abandoned by her owner, looking for a refuge when a storm explodes, comes to an old house with fame of cursed in the neighborhood. Trying to escape from it, he is threaten by a white rabbit called Jack and a white mouse called Maggie, ordering him to leave the house before Zoltar's see him. Zoltar, an nice and old magician, finds the cat and he decides to adopt him, putting the name of Thunder after his fear to the storm.
African Safari, 1h26
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Documentary
Themes Films about animals, Environmental films, Documentaire animalier, Documentary films about environmental issues, Documentary films about nature
Actors Kevin Richardson, Kevin Michael Richardson
Roles Idea
Rating61% 3.055813.055813.055813.055813.05581
Kevin Richardson et Mara Douglais, experts de la faune et la flore, embarquent pour un périple de plus de 6 000 kilomètres depuis la côte Atlantique de la Namibie jusqu'au sommet du Kilimandjaro (Tanzanie), en passant par le Botswana, le Zimbabwe et la Zambie. Grâce à la technologie 3D et une montgolfière dirigeable, la « Cinébule », pilotée par Dany Cleyet-Marrel, aéronaute français, les paysages les plus retirés d'Afrique peuplés de nombreuses espèces animales menacées d'extinction sont découverts : les éléphants, les rhinocéros, les lions, les guépards…
A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures, 1h25
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Origin Belgique
Genres Animation
Themes Films about animals, Seafaring films, Transport films, Film d'animation mettant en scène un animal, Mise en scène d'une tortue, Children's films, Reptile
Actors Gemma Arterton, Dany Boon, Yuri Lowenthal, Dominic Cooper, John Hurt, Isabelle Fuhrman
Roles Story
Rating60% 3.0000953.0000953.0000953.0000953.000095
Sammy, a Green sea turtle, hatches on a deserted beach and while trying to climb up a sand slope is caught by a seagull. He manages to escape along with another hatchling sea turtle caught by a seagull named Shelly. Sammy falls onto an old raft and gets carried into the open ocean, losing Shelly. Later he befriends a leatherback hatchling named Ray. The two friends grow up together.
Haunted Castle, 38minutes
Directed by Benoît "Ben" Stassen
Genres Thriller, Horror, Animation
Actors Harry Shearer
Roles Writer
Rating53% 2.6610152.6610152.6610152.6610152.661015
A young American musician and singer named Johnny (played by Jasper Steverlinck, singer of Belgian rock band Arid) has been notified by a British law firm that his mother (voiced by Kyoko Baertsoen, leader of another Belgian band, Lunascape), an aging rock star whom Johnny hasn't seen or heard from since he was 3 years old, has died in a helicopter accident. Johnny has been willed her castle and all of her property and money, but he must visit the actual estate, located in England, to claim these things. As he drives up to the castle, a lightning bolt hits a grave on the castle grounds, and a glowing sphere emerges.