Projects matching: Jes Benstock

Synopsis

British artist and living legend Andrew Logan, loved the world over by celebrities and misfits alike, takes us under his glittering wing and inside his outrageous, anarchic and spectacular costume pageant: the Alternative Miss World Show.

As the Show’s master of ceremonies and ringmaster, Logan is the high priest of an esteemed congregation. Artist David Hockney judged the first one, musician David Bowie couldn’t get into the second, film director Derek Jarman won the third and fashionista Zandra Rhodes designs Andrew's hostess costume. Other patrons include Mary Quant, Biba, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Brian Eno, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Divine and John Waters, Elton John, Larry Hagman, the Queen Mum and Tony Blair. He describes the Show as his most important artwork - a fabulous living sculpture that spans 40 years of arts and culture.

Over its 35 year history Alternative Miss World has both reflected and informed British arts and culture. The first was a backlash against the austerity of the early 70s. Since then, the Show has inspired glam, punk and new romantic. It dazzled in Thatcher’s recession, flaunted itself in the AIDS crisis, became darker in the corporate 90s and decidedly un-Cool Britannia in 2004.

Using live observational camera, archive and exuberant animation, this documentary charts the mounting of the 2009 Show, interwoven with its history - the rise, fall and rediscovery - of both the event and the artist at its centre.

Synopsis

A wry animated documentary about how Holocaust tourism distorts history. A whistlestop tour from Auschwitz hot-dogs to Krakow's kitsch Judaica.
 

Synopsis

After the birth of his son, director Jes Benstock starts to worry about his family history. An animated experiment which looks into the hidden influences that past generations exert on our personality. Moving and often funny, the film brings to light some simple but elusive truths about love in families.
 

Synopsis

What do babies see when they dream? An animated exploration of the mind of the director's sleeping three month old boy. Watch out for those bunnies.

Synopsis

When we close our eyes, the shapes and patterns we see are called phosphenes. This experiment in documentary unfolds like a 'look and learn' phosphenes primer. Animated flowcharts and rich shimmering images uncover some surprising facts about the visual phenomenon that every human experiences.

Synopsis

In the pressure cooker of a Friday afternoon commuter train, scruffy strangers strike up an edgy rapport. But when they hit on the subject of homosexuality, the darkly comic conversation careers out of control.