Benjamin Ree is a Norwegian filmmaker based in Oslo. His first feature was the acclaimed documentary The Painter and the Thief (2020), about an artist who befriends the thief who stole her paintings and makes him her muse. The film was sold to 80 countries and won over 30 awards, several of which were at the world’s top film festivals, including Sundance, London, and Hong Kong. It was named one of 2020’s best films by the BBC, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and the New Yorker magazine and was shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Ree’s documentary feature debut, Magnus (2016), a coming-of-age documentary about the world’s best chess player, was sold to 64 countries and won several awards at film festivals worldwide.