Ric Esther Bienstock
Director/Writer/Producer

Ric Esther Bienstock is an acclaimed Canadian filmmaker best known for her groundbreaking investigative documentaries. Her films have screened at over 30 international festivals and have aired on networks in over 50 countries. Her most recent feature length documentary, Tales From the Organ Trade, tackles the international black market trade in human organs. Narrated by David Cronenberg, the film was produced for HBO in the U.S. and Shaw Media and Canal D in Canada.

She has produced, written and directed a diverse range of acclaimed films including the Emmy Award-winning Sex Slaves (aka The Real Sex Traffic). Bienstock went under-cover to produce an expose into the trafficking of women from the former Soviet bloc into the global sex trade. Other films include the 3-part series Penn & Teller’s Magic and Mystery Tour, which takes the Vegas magician-comedians on a wild and unpredictable adventure to Egypt, India and China, The Money Shot (from the Series “The Sexual Century) a revealing romp through the hard-core pornography industry and how it is penetrating mainstream culture. She also produced and directed an unprecedented behind the scenes look inside the world of professional boxing with Boxing: In and Out of the Ring, the highly acclaimed Ebola: Inside an Outbreak (aka The Plague Fighters) a thorough ground-zero investigation of an Ebola outbreak in Zaire for which she was honored with a Dupont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism and Ms.Conceptions an entertaining look at single mothers by choice and the sperm industry which screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of a film series.

Bienstock also produced numerous one hour documentaries and series including The Age of Anxiety (CBC), Faces of the Bible (National Geographic U.S. & International, VisionTV), Impact of Terror (CNN, CBC), Finding Atlantis (National Geographic U.S. & International, Discovery Canada), Beasts of the Bible (Animal Planet U.S., VisionTV), Science of the Soul (History U.S. and VisionTV), The Lost Tomb of Jesus (Discovery U.S., Channel 4, VisionTV) and Deadly Currents (BBC, Discovery Channel, CBC) among others. She also served as location director for the Emmy-winning The Plague Monkeys (A&E, Channel 4, CBC).

Her work has garnered numerous awards including a U.S. Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism, an Edward R. Murrow Award, a Dupont-Columbia University Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, a British Broadcast Award for Best Documentary, a Royal Television Society Award, a nomination for a British Academy Award (BAFTA), two HOT DOCS Awards, two Gemini Awards, a Genie, a Cable Ace Award, two Gold Hugos from the Chicago Film Festival, 2 Cine Golden Eagles, a Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award from the IDA in Los Angeles, a Gracie Award for Outstanding Documentary, 3 Gold World Medals from the New York Festivals, the Grand Prix at the Nyon International Film Festival in Switzerland and two Overseas Press Club of America Awards for her investigative documentaries.

She speaks three languages, none of which her children listen to.