Screening of Robert Flaherty Look Again

The John Howard Benson Film
Optik Nerve presents a film directed by Rebecca Miller, followed by a panel discussion
Run time: 33 minutes
The Sunday Film Series at JAC kicks off with the screening of ROBERT FLAHERTY LOOK AGAIN: The John Howard Benson Film, a new documentary by Jamestown filmmaker Rebecca Miller.

Miller’s 33-minute film revisits an project begun in 1944 by pioneering documentarian Robert Flaherty, who set out to make a portrait of the artist, calligrapher, and influential RISD faculty member John Howard Benson. Drawing from Flaherty’s previously unseen Benson footage—preserved in the RISD Archives—and from interviews Miller conducted in 1978 with figures such as Richard Leacock and Mrs. John Howard Benson, the documentary reconstructs a story long obscured by time.

Rather than treating Flaherty as an untouchable figure in cinema history, the film invites viewers to reconsider his legacy by placing him in tension with Benson’s quieter, exacting artistic world. The result is a lively, incisive study of two artists whose sensibilities collided in unexpected ways.

ROBERT FLAHERTY LOOK AGAIN offers a rare opportunity to witness archival material transformed into a potent, contemporary narrative—an invitation, as Miller puts it, “to take a look, and then look again.”

Following the screening, JAC will host a panel with the filmmaker. The panel discussion will create an interactive opportunity for audience members to learn more about filmmaker Rebecca Miller's creative process and engage with other panel participants on the history and evolution of the documentary form.