Benjamin DeJesus

Benjamin "Ben" DeJesus (born 1976 in Trenton, New Jersey) is an American music video and film director of Latino descent.

Biography

As founder of Diamante Pictures, Ben DeJesus is a rising director/producer in the worlds of television, music videos, commercials, DVD and web content. After attending Rutgers University, Ben began his work in television at MTV, as an associate producer/writer for 3 seasons of MTV Cribs. During his time at MTV, Ben also wrote and produced segments for VJ’s Ananda Lewis, Chris Connelly, John Norris, Suchin Pak and Sway. He also wrote and produced for VH1’s All Access.

In 2002, Ben stepped out on his own and created Diamante Pictures. He soon landed the summer ad campaign for The N, delivering over 25 spots to the Nickelodeon network, and went on the produce several spots for ESPN, MTV, TV LAND, Nick@NIte and more. Soon after, Diamante’s boxing documentary “Bazooka: The Battles of Wilfredo Gomez,” a Cinemar co-production, was acquired by HBO after a Lincoln Center premiere. Ben also worked as a producer of the BET miniseries movie event A Royal Birthday with director/actress Kim Fields at the helm.

Ben and Diamante continue to produce commercials and television content for BET, MTV Networks, SiTV and others. In the past two years, the company has delivered over 80 hours of programming for broadcast.

In music videos, Ben’s work as co-director of Don Omar’s hit “Reggaeton Latino” garnered substantial media attention with its visual and historical homage to Latino culture. MTV called the video ‘the anthem for the Reggaeton movement,” and it was one of the first Spanish-language music videos to ever appear on the channel. Ben has since directed a number of music videos for artists including Fat Joe, NORE, Aventura, Nina Sky, Voltio, Xtreme, Malverde, I Wayne, Lil’ Rob, Machel Montano, Doug E. Fresh, Chingo Bling and more. Four of his videos have reached #1 status.

In the web content arena, Ben’s work on the web series Pitbull’s La Esquina became the most visited portion of MUN2’s website. On the DVD front, Ben has worked on several multi-platinum projects including the recent Aventura Live at Madison Square Garden concert DVD. To date, Ben and Diamante have produced over 20 DVD‘s including several fitness and how-to titles.

Diamante Pictures is now a full service production, post, audio and design company based in midtown Manhattan. The company’s convert|3500|sqft|m2|sing=on facility includes several state-of-the-art studios for editing, audio and design.

Videography

Music Videos

* Aventura - "El Perdedor" - director
* Aventura - "K.O.B. Live at Madison Square Garden" Concert DVD - producer (special features)
* Don Omar - "Reggaetón Latino (Remix)" ft. Fat Joe, N.O.R.E. & LDA - co-director
* Don Omar - "Reggaetón Latino" - co-director
* N.O.R.E. - "Más Maíz" ft. Fat Joe, Big Mato, Nina Sky, Chingo Bling, Lumidee, Lil' Rob, La Negra - director
* Voltio - "Claro de Luna" - co-director
* Malverde - "She Was My" - co-director/producer
* Sean Garrett - "Sean "The Pen" Garrett" EPK - producer
* Xtreme - "Shorty Shorty" - director
* Xtreme - "Hiliana" - director
* I Wayne - "Can't Satisfy Her" - producer
* I Wayne - "Lifeseeds" - co-director
* Mig Ayesa - "Mi Todo" - post-producer
* Nueva Era - "Mi Todo" - co-director
* Machel Montano - "We're Not Giving Up" ft. Doug E. Fresh - producer
* Latin Fresh - "Bata Bata" - producer
* N.O.R.E. - "N.O." - director
* Dirty Deuce Entertainment - "Una Noche" - director
* Miri Ben Ari - "Universal Records' Miri Ben Ari: The Hip Hop Violinist" EPK/DVD - director/producer
* Triumph the Insulty Comic Dog (Warner Brothers Roast) - producer
* Vivian Green - "Columbia Records' Vivian Green" EPK - director/producer

Commercials/Promos

*Accent Energy “Soccer Weekend” - director/producer
*Accent Energy “Life Lesson” - producer
*Aventura “Gira del Pueblo” - director/producer
*Nickelodeon’s The N “Spin the Bottle” - director/producer
*Nickelodeon’s The N “Tug of War” - director/producer
*Nickelodeon's The N “Chicken Fight” - director/producer
*Nickelodeon’s The N “Dance Contest” - director/producer
*Nickelodeon's The N “Checkers” - director/producer
*ESPN/NFL Sunday "Goal" - producer
*ESPN Deportes “Launch” - producer
*TV Land “I Love Lucy” - producer
*TV Land “Brady Bunch” - producer
*TV Land “All in the Family” - producer
*MTV/Paramount “Pilates DVD” - producer
*MTV's “Aaliyah Book" - director/producer
*Nickelodeon's The N “32 Interstitials” - director/producer
*Nick@Nite “Toys 'R' Us Gift Giving” - producer
*Nick@Nite “Mastercard Gift Giving” - director/producer
*CitiBank “Myths – Roberto” - post-producer
*CitiBank “Myths – Laura” - post-producer
*CitiBank “Myths – Kevin” - post-producer
*Afro Cuban All Stars “Live in Japan” - producer
*Fleet/NY Latino Film Festival - director/producer
*ESPN/NFL Dominical - producer
*Essence Music Festival - director/producer
*French's Gourmayo - producer
*Prilosec OTC - producer
*Huggies Good Nites - producer

Television

*MTV Tr3́s “Malverde Makes A Video: She Was My” - producer
*BETJ “A Royal Birthday” (miniseries) - producer
*BETJ “Reggaeton Rush Hour” (13 episodes) - supervising producer
*BETJ “My Two Cents” - post-producer
*BETJ “Timeless” - graphics producer
*WNBC “Tech4NY” - post-producer
*Nickelodeon's The N network (development deal) - co-creator
*HBO's Bazooka: The Battles of Wilfredo Gomez (documentary) - producer
*MTV News - segment producer/writer
*MTV News The Assignment: Paparazzi - segment producer
*MTV Cribs (2 Seasons) - associate producer/writer
*MTV Cribs Fast & Furious Edition - associate producer /writer
*MTV Cribs Swordfish Edition - associate producer
*MTV Cribs Ozzfest Edition - associate producer
*MTV Cribs Car Edition - associate producer
*Cribs Hip-Hop's Finest (Ja Rule – host) - additional writer
*MTVN TEMPO “Fire” - director/producer
*MTVN TEMPO “Dahved Levy: Rockin’ U” - post-producer
*MTVN TEMPO “Inside the Rhythm” - producer
*MTVN TEMPO (station ID’s/various interviews) - producer
*The Hip Hop Violinist (documentary) - segment producer/writer
*VH1's All Access: Awesomely Wack Hip Hop - post-producer
*SiTV's Styleyes (urban fashion show - 4 episodes) - post-producer
*MTV News Bangin' the Charts - segment producer/writer
*MTV's Advance Warning (Miri Ben-Ari segment) - segment producer/writer
*MTV's Ultrasound Makeups & Breakups - field producer
*MTV 20th Anniversary (Biggie/Tupac segment) - associate producer
*ESPN2 Fitness America Pageant (behind the scenes) - director/producer
*ESPN2 Muscle Mania (behind the scenes) - director/producer

External links

* [http://www.diamantepictures.com/ Official Company site] : view all Ben DeJesus videos and projects.
* [http://www.imdb.com/benjamindejesus Official Film Industry site] : extensive info on music video and TV director Ben DeJesus

Notes