Today at Full Frame, there’s this film on. Benita.
I would be super curious to know how it was. https://www.fullframefest.org/film/benita/
I’m not a film buff or anything, but I do like art house movies from time to time. In New York on a trip a friend in banking took me to The Angelica, saying, you would like it because you are a free spirited artist, and then got annoyed about what we saw, which was fair. It wasn’t a good movie. That’s half of the fun of art films, though. Gambling on it. You have no idea what you’re in for. You might find something very obscure and fall in love with it.
In Cork it was the Kino that we’d go to so often on our trips up there from Skibbereen, making a day of it after hitting up the English Market and wandering the streets and going to teh Gingerbread House if we got there early enough for a morning fry up.
In Seattle, I think I went to more and more tings on my own. Sometimes you just wouldn’t think about it but happen to pass by a place and go, ‘Why not?’ These places and the films on were so everywhere in the 00s. I have heard things have changed but still, my memories are those of a very arts-and-culture-first style of city. Which was why I liked it, of course. I think my favorite spot was The Egyptian, but you could catch some unique movies in the smaller theaters like Northwest Film Forum, too.
I think I forgot to appreciate it, lookingb ack now. Living in Phnom Penh, I miss the idea of happening upon a theater with plays or an art house with cinema on for the public to happen upon. The closest I can think of is this one place; I used to go to the films at the French Institute before covid sometimes. (I haven’t been since covid but I think it may be due to having watched too many films over the pandemic. Ran out of interest now. It used to be a treat to see a movie, now, you can downlod anything, anytime and watch it straightaway. No planning or waiting for something to come out. No wandering-drift-chance encounter. Which I miss. But I did really like Hoppers, which I saw in this stay-home-and-see-it way.
Still and all, the art house experience is its own entire thing, as we all know, and it’s not something you can replicate with films watched on your telly at home. If I were in North Carolina today, I’d go see this one. Benita.
Russ Campbell writes about it for the Indy, here.
‘[Filmmaker Alan Berliner says:] Benita taught me that our struggles, our alienation, our quirks, the things we overcome, those are the things that make us who we are. And if you’re an artist, those things can become your material. Art is a safe space for people who feel different. You can transform your struggles into something meaningful, even beautiful…
‘I also feel like, in a way, I’m finishing the film Benia wanted to make. She wanted to explore how COVID affected people with mental health struggles. And I hope this film carries some of that intention forward.’ – Read full story