Riley
The life of a disciplined high school athlete begins to unravel when his queer identity competes against the idea of who he was supposed to be.
Benjamin is an Emmy-recognized filmmaker from San Diego, CA. His narrative projects often explore themes related to identity, particularly through a ‘coming-of-age’ lens. A graduate of San Diego State University, his capstone project “Deviant” was recognized with a Student Emmy Award in 2019. In 2018, Benjamin moved to Los Angeles to pursue his graduate degree at UCLA. As a Bruin, his short film “Rendezvous” was selected for Director’s Spotlight, a collection of the best work to come out of the prestigious School of Theater, Film and Television. He earned his M.F.A. in Film Directing from UCLA in 2022. His debut feature “Riley”, which he wrote, produced and directed, will premiere in 2023.
I was 12 years old when I strapped on my first pair of shoulder pads. In high school, I lived a disciplined life as a prep athlete; early morning workouts, pasta dinners with the team, two-a-days in 90° weather. Through it all, a troubling suspicion boiled in me. As it became clearer, that suspicion turned into a clichéd denial: ‘It’s just a phase,’ I reassured myself. It was a feeling I grappled with at every weight-lifting session, every class presentation, and every school dance. I wrote this film as a way to express what thousands of queer youth are going through right now. Riley is a movie that aims to shine a light on the coming-out experience through a contemporary lens, and to tell these young, queer athletes that they aren’t alone in their journeys– and that everything is going to be okay.