How does a broken arm lead to the inevitable creation of a filmmaking company, you ask? It all started when our founder Ben Powell fell off a rope swing at a local college baseball game, breaking his arm in three places and ending his pee-wee baseball career. The college gave him a small settlement for his troubles; and with that, Ben bought his first camera. He’s been making films ever since. 

The etymology of “Broken Arm” is also important in understanding the nature of our work. While it nods to the twist of fate that led the company’s founder down this path, the words themselves hold meaning as well.  To be “broken” is to be experienced, weathered, worn in.

 To be an “arm” of something is to be an extension or a service, the way a camera is an extension of a filmmaker’s hand. It speaks to the handmade nature of our work, treating each story with precision and intention.

This is the ethos from which we work. 

Filmmaker Ben Powell’s work invites us into deeper knowing of people and places that are often overlooked, subtly celebrating the beauty in the minutiae. 

Compelled to view the world through a lens since he was old enough to hold a camera, Ben has amassed a body of award winning work that has premiered at film festivals across the country. He began his career as a cinematographer, later going on to direct his best known film, BARGE which documents America’s most industrious waterway and the people who live in it.

BARGE premiered at SXSW in 2015, later screening at dozens of other festivals across the country and winning the Grand Jury Prize Documentary Feature at the Dallas International Film Festival and Indie Memphis. It can be viewed on Amazon Prime and iTunes.

Since then, Ben has created numerous other feature length documentaries, shorts, and music videos. He’s worked with Google, STARZ, CB2, The Daily Show, and made documentaries about musician Phil Collins and others. For Google, Ben worked as a director of photography managing camera crews on shoots in Seattle, India, Japan, and Canada. 

After living in Austin for 12 years, Ben now resides in the Mississippi Delta – the place he grew up – producing work for GRAMMY Museum Mississippi and the University of Mississippi.