Directed by Jem Cohen and Peter Sillen • 2000 • United States

Far from a standard music documentary, Jem Cohen and Peter Sillen’s loving portrait of underground musician Benjamin Smoke—speed freak, drag queen, and a true outsider artist in every sense of the word—captures his singular personality (described by Cohen as a kind of “Deep South, dirt-poor Oscar Wilde”), mesmerizing performances, and the unique world of his Cabbagetown neighborhood in Atlanta. Filmed in evocative black and white, BENJAMIN SMOKE is a poignant tribute to a life lived totally and uncompromisingly on the margins.