Benjamin Harold Zeitlin (/ˈbɛn ˈzaɪtlɪn/;[3] born October 14, 1982)[4] is an American filmmaker, best known for directing and co-writing the 2012 film Beasts of the Southern Wild, for which he received two Academy Award nominations.

[7] He was born to writers and folklorists Mary Amanda Dargan and Steven Joel Zeitlin, who founded the NYC non-profit cultural organization City Lore.

[1][8][9] His father, who is Jewish, spent most of his childhood in Brazil; his mother comes from a rural, Protestant background in Darlington, South Carolina.

[17] For his directorial work and screenplay in Beasts of the Southern Wild, Zeitlin collected several additional awards and nominations.

Inspired by Peter Pan, Zeitlin described the film as "a friendship-love story-adventure of her and a joyous, reckless, pleasure-mongering young boy as they swirl in and out of youth and as the ecosystem around them spirals toward destruction.