BIOGRAPHY

Nothing that happened before the first time Benjamin Cox picked up a camera really mattered, not in the grand scheme of things. He had a typical birth with a typical upbringing in a typical family in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but what set him apart was how alive and energetic he was the moment he pressed a camcorder to his eye. For as long as he can remember, Ben's lived this way—viewing and manipulating the world through a lens. When his friends learned how to skateboard, he was there to document it. When his parents argued over mundane things like how to decorate the house for Christmas, he was recording from around the corner. And when he was too shy to say hi to a girl he liked, Ben let his camera be his worthy shield.

It should go without saying that when Benjamin finally grew up into a tall, lanky adult, he chose to follow his heart. At the tender age of 18, Ben shipped off to the University of Michigan to study film, graduating after five years of dicking around and having way too much fun with his major. But because life isn't perfect—and Ben's life is really far from perfect—he didn't make it big once he was finished with school. Instead, he built a small (but enthusiastic) fanbase after uploading a few of his decent short films and sketches on YouTube, and to pay the bills, he started bartending (more for the cliche than because he actually wanted to serve drinks in his spare time).

After a couple of years of incredibly minor success and a few projects that were worthy enough to add to his portfolio, Ben's life—and his concentration—took a turn. Even at 25, Ben was still attending Halloween parties because his friends were still throwing them, and on the Halloween of 2007, he had the luck of meeting Audrey Alenko. Blonde, leggy, beautiful and entirely out of his league, Ben was more than shocked when they hit it off—she didn't even laugh at him when he summoned the courage (with a little help from his friends Jim and Jack) to ask for her number. And after a few dates—in which he learned that Audrey was more than just a pretty face but also a witty, silly, intelligent woman—Ben knew he'd be an idiot if he didn't tie her down while he could.

Years passed, and Ben was finally convinced that Audrey wasn't playing a long, dumb joke on him. And while he'd always been convinced that his purpose in life was to make movies, he soon realized that he'd been somewhat wrong about that; Ben's primary purpose was to love Audrey, and he did—wholly and unconditionally and passionately. She fit so snugly into his life; she smoothed his rough edges; she laughed at his immature jokes; she wanted to be friends with his friends (who very quickly decided they liked Audrey more than they liked Ben, anyway); she motivated him to live out his dreams; she inspired him to find the beauty in each and every moment. It really wasn't a coincidence that Ben's best works were produced during his years with Audrey, who was nothing but helpful and supportive and loving.

On February 13, 2013, however, life as he knew it would change once again—but this time, it wasn't for the better. As much as he loved Audrey, their relationship wasn't full of just joyous highs; days, weeks, even months passed when they'd sink into a deep low, his kind and wonderful girlfriend a victim to depressive episodes. Despite it all, though, Ben braved the waves with her, and he knew that he couldn't live a minute of his life without her in it—highs and lows and all. Just after he'd bought a ring and asked for her family's blessing to marry Audrey, Ben came home the day before Valentine's to find his better half on their bathroom floor, unresponsive and clutching an empty pill bottle.

The efforts to save Audrey Alenko were unsuccessful. Once she was buried—resting peacefully, Ben told himself—he spent months trying to piece together exactly why she left, but Ben could never make sense of it. Maybe it was the holidays, or the gloomy weather, or an argument at work, or maybe he didn't show her he loved her often enough, or... Whatever hypothesis he had, Ben only knew one thing, and that was that he'd never truly know anything. This realization was his biggest breakthrough in grief counseling, and from then on, Ben decided that he'd rather celebrate the exuberant woman Audrey was than spend the rest of his days digging for an answer he knew he'd never find.

Time passed and wounds healed and Ben eventually found himself enjoying life again, even if Audrey wasn't at his side to enjoy it with him. He threw himself into his work, carried by a combination of grief and a desire to do what he'd always loved: make movies. His mourning inspired his work, but not as much as his life with Audrey had—and it was this inspiration that pushed out his best project: Light/Dark, a short film based on loving Audrey through all her moods, good and bad. It was different from his typically lighthearted, goofy films, but in this case, different was...good. Different was how he told their story—her story—the way it needed to be told. The way he knew how to honor her memory.

These days, Ben's still plugging away at writing and directing film projects, only now he's a little bit closer to making a name for himself in the community. The newfound success (as small as it is, Ben considers it success) hasn't gone to his head, fortunately, and he's remained the same manchild he always was—only now he takes things a little more seriously than before. And that's not really a bad thing.