BENITA

BENITA is Alan Berliner's intimate portrait of New York City filmmaker, Benita Raphan, who took her life by suicide in the middle of 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 effect of isolation during Covid, Benita is the portrait of a filmmaker by a filmmaker that's also a film about filmmaking.