Benita
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Feature Film
Rating: NR / Run Time: 81 minutes
Language: English
Director: Alan Berliner
Writer: Alan Berliner
Starring: Benita Raphan, Alan Berliner, Roslyn Raphan and Shari Spiegel

“She doesn’t conform to be accepted. She was marching from a
different drummer from adolescence on. She was totally unpredictable.”

     On January 10, 2021, filmmaker Benita Raphan was tragically found dead by suicide. One of the people notified was her friend — and self-appointed mentor — filmmaker Alan Berliner. Berliner had served as a creative advisor on several of Benita’s projects but always recognized the differences between them. They never fully collaborated because, while Benita made short films about artists and historical figures, Berliner focused more on long-form personal essays about his own life and family. In the aftermath of Benita’s passing, her family reached out to Berliner and asked if he would consider finishing her last film. Recognizing the differences in their approaches, he realized he would not be the best person to do that — but he did want to take the opportunity to create a portrait of the life of the tortured artist he came to understand Benita was.

     Granted permission by her family, Berliner goes through journals, home movies, archival interviews and old photographs to construct a portrait of an artist who appeared one way on the surface but was suffering deeply within. As the film unfolds, we see how certain themes — while not explicitly stated — were infused in Benita’s work. Through excerpts from her journals, we learn about the challenges she faced connecting with others, stemming from strained relationships with her parents and her own disappointments in love.

     In shaping this portrait, Berliner incorporates a series of talking-head interviews, either conducted by him (we hear his voice off-camera) or drawn from archival excerpts. We hear from her mother, Roslyn Raphan; collaborators such as composer Hayes Greenfield (who also forms part of the trio responsible for the wondrous, almost dreamlike score alongside Robert Miller and Pierre Földes); friends like Shari Spiegel (Berliner’s wife, who introduced him to Benita); and her former boyfriend, Eric Hoffert — a member of the band The Speedies, who gave her one of her first jobs as a photographer.

     More than just a filmmaker and photographer, Benita also taught at the School of Visual Arts and touched many lives, including that of her student Yumi Nakamura, who provides thoughtful insight into her mentor. Benita struggled — she longed to create the work she believed in but often lacked the funding or opportunities she needed. The film touches on some of the causes behind her struggles, painting a picture that reminds us how essential it is to look beneath the surface. The work of an artist often reflects hidden emotions and pain, and that’s what Berliner captures here: an honest, unflinching look at Benita — the good, the tragic, and the unexpected.

     In addition to conducting interviews and assembling all the material, Berliner also serves as the editor, cleverly sculpting a film that feels more like a visual essay than a traditional documentary. We’re treated to montages of Benita’s work and photos set to a mix of classical compositions and the ethereal soundscape by Greenfield, Miller, and Földes. It’s clear there is great love and respect between Berliner and Benita. All in all, this moving portrait of a tortured artist will inform you about an artist you may never have heard of, but definitely left a mark on those closest to her.