film / art / community

The Benson Film Festival celebrates film, art, and community. The vision of this festival is to incorporate neighborhood artists and businesses, highlight filmmakers, and create an immersive and connective experience for the community. The Benson Film Festival aims to bring local, national, and international artists & filmmakers together right here in the Benson Creative District!

The festival is presented by Aksarben Creative in collaboration with the Benson Theatre.

Festival Team

Ben Matukewicz - Executive Director

Michael Hennings - Festival Director

C. Scott Fields - Marketing & Events Coordinator

Beaufield Berry - Programming Associate

2023 Selection Committee

Our selection committee is comprised of local filmmakers, film critics, artists, arts administrators, creative community members, and community leaders. These amazing folks were tasked with selecting the films that best aligned with our festival mission out of over 1,000 submissions. We thank them for volunteering their time and contributing to our mission.

Joe Addison, Casey Callahan, David Carney, Jared Charles, Yuanjun Chen, Derek Dillon, Taylor Eagan, C. Scott Fields, Sharonda Harris-Marshall, Dawaune Lamont Hayes, Nik Hulstein, Urosa Jawed, Tom Knoblauch, Maverick Knox, Abiola Demo Kosko, Greg Lilly, Kate Robertson Pryor, Thalia Rodgers, Joe Rohleder, Bart Vargas