Our years of living famously ... well, almost!

Candid Conversation with Judi Levine & Ben Lewin

Hosted by Dr Michael Liffman AM

Judi Levine and Ben Lewin are a prominent husband-and-wife film-making team based between Australia and the United States. Ben is an acclaimed writer and director, while Judi is a successful film and television producer.

After pursuing careers locally and overseas, Writer/Director Ben Lewin and Producer Judi Levine formed a life-long relationship producing feature films and documentaries. Sharing a taste for stories that not only amuse, but also leave audiences with something to talk about, they went on to make a number of award-winning and diverse films. In the early 1990s, they were wooed to Hollywood with the promise of fame and fortune, and streets paved with gold. Little did they know that a two-year commitment to tinsel town would evolve into three decades of roller-coaster experiences in the movie world. For the majority of the first 10 years, three kids and intermittent work meant life wasn’t easy – then everything changed. Lewin & Levine produced the acclaimed feature film The Sessions, for which Helen Hunt received an Oscar nomination. After living deep in the shadows of Hollywood for over a decade, suddenly everyone wanted to be their friend. Lewin and Levine have developed a reputation for exploring taboos around disability (and sex), always with humour and sensitivity. Their film-making adventures have taken them to Paris, Prague, Scotland and now back to Melbourne, where they continue to make entertaining and impactful films, while navigating the ever-changing landscape of the Australian film industry.

Judi Levine has had an extensive producing career in feature films and documentaries, and has been associated with award-winning film projects since her first short film PLEAD GUILTY, GET A BOND (Chris Haywood, Lillian Crombie) won an AFI award for Best Screenplay in a Short Film. In addition to producing in Australia, Judi's work has led her to projects all around the globe. In 2012, Levine produced THE SESSIONS, which won Audience Awards at the Sundance, San Sebastian and Mill Valley Film Festivals, and a Sundance Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Cast. Stars Helen Hunt and John Hawkes were both nominated for Golden Globe awards and Hunt was nominated for an Oscar. In 2017, Levine Co-Produced the WWII drama THE CATCHER WAS A SPY (Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti & Guy Pearce) and, in 2020, Levine completed the romantic comedy FALLING FOR FIGARO starring Dame Joanna Lumley and Danielle Macdonald. In 2021, Levine produced the feature film HOW TO PLEASE A WOMAN starring Sally Phillips. The film opened to great critical acclaim and recently won the Audience Award, and a Special Jury Prize for actress Sally Phillips, at the Festival des Antipodes in St. Tropez. In November 2023, Levine completed filming on the feature MY EYES, about a couple whose 11yo daughter is diagnosed with the eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa, revealing the awkward truth about her paternity. 

Judi is wholly committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity, in front of and behind the camera, by telling the unique and entertaining stories of under-represented communities such as people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, women and indigenous communities. 

Ben Lewin's career as a writer and director is spread across three continents and includes award-winning documentaries, feature films, TV movies, mini-series and episodic programs. Ben was born in Poland and grew up in Australia. As a young man, Lewin showed great passion for photography and creative writing, and also studied and practiced law. He left his work as a criminal barrister when he was offered a scholarship to the National Film School in England. 

Amidst an illustrious career, Ben is renowned for writing and directing the award-winning feature THE SESSIONS, a moving true-life story based on the sexual awakening of polio victim Mark O'Brien (Helen Hunt, John Hawkes, William H Macy). Other notable credits include the murder mystery feature GEORGIA, starring Judy Davis, which won eight Australian Film Institute nominations; the much-honored and multi-award winning THE DUNERA BOYS starring Bob Hoskins – the true story of 2,000 English Jews who were mistakenly suspected as Nazi spies and transported to Australia in 1940; the award-winning A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE, a tele-movie about marriages of convenience with Jean-Pierre Cassel; and PLEAD GUILTY, GET A BOND, about an aboriginal woman and her conflict with the Australian legal system. Ben wrote and directed the romantic comedy FALLING FOR FIGARO. Ben's films have won numerous international awards.

Ben’s next project, THE ART OF NEGATIVE THINKING, is a dark comedy about a self-help guru/ interventionist and a group of badly-behaved people in wheelchairs. The film is scheduled for production in 2026. He is currently casting for the feature film SYLVIA AND THE PRESIDENT, about a young woman in the 1930s who led the first movement for the rights of people with disabilities, while President Roosevelt was concealing his own disability.

An Australian at heart, Ben has been living and working in California since 1994 and is currently in development on a number of feature film and television projects. His portfolio and interests are diverse, and include one wife (Producer Judi Levine) and three very-diverse children.

Please join us to hear from this dynamic, change-making couple as they share insights into their international film-making adventures.