COHORT 4 PARTICIPANT

Ric Esther Bienstock is an acclaimed Emmy Award-winning Canadian filmmaker best known for her investigative documentaries. From sex trafficking to the human organ trade, from corruption in the world of Boxing to Ebola, Bienstock’s hallmark is gaining unprecedented access to major international stories. Her films and series, including Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, The Accountant of Auschwitz, Tales From the Organ Trade, Sex Slaves (aka The Real Sex Traffic), Ebola: Inside an Outbreak (aka The Plague Fighters), Boxing: In and Out of the Ring, Penn & Teller’s Magic and Mystery Tour and Ms. Conceptions, have screened at over 80 international festivals and she has produced and directed for most major broadcasters around the world.

In 2019 Bienstock was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada for “her commitment to raising awareness of global events and conflicts through film”. She also received the Gordon Sinclair Award for Broadcast Journalism for her “exceptional body of work and significant contribution to the international profile of Canadian television journalism”.

Her work has garnered dozens of prestigious awards, including two Edward R. Murrow Awards, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism, a Dupont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, a British Broadcast Award, a Royal Television Society Award, a Distinguished Achievement award from the IDA in Los Angeles, 2 Amnesty International Awards, 2 Donald Brittain Awards, 5 Canadian Screen Awards, a Genie Award, 2 Banff Rockie Awards, and multiple Emmy, Bafta and NAACP nominations, among many others.