George Benjamin: What Do You Want to Do When You Grow Up?

He has been crowned with every laurel in contemporary classical music, composed operas which play on the world's most illustrious stages and been knighted for his services to music. Yet Sir George Benjamin is still relatively little known outside the classical world. Imagine... sets that straight. Intimate and humorous, this film tracks the creation of the British composer's opera Lessons in Love and Violence, which premiered at the Royal Opera House in 2018. The film follows his journey from composing songs aged three and being transfixed by Fantasia and 2001: Space Odyssey to his golden days as the youngest ever pupil of the legendary composer Olivier Messiaen in Paris. Early experiments with computers, a passion for folk instruments and virtuosity on the piano combined to produce the startling, moving music heard today.

Directed by Jill Nicholls, George Benjamin: What Do You Want to Do When You Grow Up? leans on a strong ensemble — George Benjamin, Alan Yentob — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 2018.