BENITA

SAT, 12/6, 8:00pm, 81 min, follows the Pennebaker Award presentation
BAY STREET THEATER

Director: Alan Berliner
Producer: Alan Berliner
Editor: Alan Berliner
Cinematographers: Benita Raphan, Connor K. Smith

BENITA is Alan Berliner's intimate portrait of New York City filmmaker, Benita Raphan, who took her life by suicide during the Covid pandemic. Benita made several beautiful short films over the years, exploring the relationship between mental health, innovation, and creativity -- including portraits of Emily Dickinson, John Nash, Helen Keller, and Buckminster Fuller.

Benita may not have left behind a suicide note, but Berliner patiently explored her personal archive, filled with films, out-takes, notebooks, drawings, photographs, home movies, and more than 40 hard drives, eventually making a surprising discovery that changed his understanding of Benita's life, her work –and her death.

Part anatomy of a suicide and part personal history of the profound impact of isolation and loneliness during Covid, BENITA is the portrait of a filmmaker by a filmmaker, that's also a film about filmmaking.