Ben Popp

Place of birth:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA:

Biography:

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ben first started making videos on the family VHS camera while learning photography on good old 35mm film. After a short stint in the great city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Ben first got his paws on a 16mm camera and was exposed to the wonderful Riverwest Film Co-Op, he moved back to NM to finish up a Media Arts degree at wonderful Universtiy of New Mexico. There he met and began working with Basement Films, a motley crew of cinephiles with a massive 16mm collection. Shortly after completion of a BA, the midwest beckoned him back for a Masters degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Two years and many films later Ben arrived in Portland Oregon and immediately commenced in making films once more. In 2009 he helped form the micro-cinema Grand Detour which evolved into the Experimental Film Festival Portland. After teaching toddlers, elementary schoolers, middle schoolers, high schoolers, college students, and adults, animation, film, and video at an array of organizations Ben landed at the Northwest Film Center where he currently resides as the Filmmaker Services Manager.