Jem Cohen and Peter Sillen directed this documentary about Benjamin, a singer who played in a band called Smoke and lived in a ramshackle area of Atlanta called Cabbagetown, who died of AIDS in 1999. By refusing to condemn or sentimentalize Benjamin’s struggle with disease, Cohen and Silken present a raggedly conflicted yet charismatic figure. Like Benjamin, this film achieves beauty through unflinching honesty. (2001, 78 min.)

“A film as ethereal, moving, and uncompromising as its subject” – Village Voice