One good film fest deserves another, says East Harlem arts entrepreneur
Raphael Benavides of the Poets Den follows last year’s East Harlem film fest with a Puerto Rican Heritage version
There were several reasons Raphael Benavides felt East Harlem was a great place to launch an international film festival.
First, there is the neighborhood’s rich cultural heritage. Second, it is home to eight beautiful theaters. They include those at the New York Academy of Medicine, The Museum of the City of New York and Museo del Barrio, all on Fifth Ave., the Julio de Burgos Cultural Center on Lexington Ave., the Museum of African Art at Fifth and 110th, Taino Towers on E. 122nd St., and of course Benavides’ own Poets Den at 108th St. and Second Ave., a “beautiful arts complex where we are able to do the whole spectrum of the arts,” he said.
“Once you live in East Harlem you start realizing the great infrastructure in our neighborhood. We have more great theaters than any other neighborhood in the city,” Benavides said. “Once you start looking, you see we have more theaters than we need. I thought we could have the greatest film festival in the United States.”
So last summer Benavides, founder and executive director (“and chief projectionist, and chief usher, and chief caterer,” he said with a giggle) of the art group East Harlem Presents, mounted the first East Harlem International Film Festival.
From May 31 to June 5 Benavides’ group presented some 60 films gleaned from some 300 entries. The festival opened with an outdoor showing of the documentary “Tito Puente, The King of Latin Music.”
“We wanted to do something for the community and bring the community into the festival, so we had a free screening of this beautiful documentary in a park on 106th St.,” Benavides said. “It was a wonderful evening.”
After the festival Benavides and friends Veronica Caicedo and Felix Campos started talking about the number of Puerto Rican films they’d managed to get into the festival.
“Puerto Ricans are the largest ethnic group in the neighborhood, but there was no festival dedicated to their films in the city,” he said.
That will change this weekend, as the Poets Den hosts the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival.
Starting at noon on Saturday, the group will screen as many as 40 short films which were either made in or about Puerto Rico, by Puerto Ricans, or in which Puerto Ricans have major roles in front or behind the camera.
“We put out the call and got flooded with entries,” Benavides said. “The films are coming from all over the place, from Puerto Rico, from California, some are local. They cover everything in the diaspora.”
Benavides sees less irony in a native-born Argentinian championing a Puerto Rican film festival in the largest community of Puerto Ricans outside of the island than in the fact that he is “probably the most handicapped person when it comes to art.
“I don’t play an instrument, I don’t paint, I don’t act and and I’m not a sculptor,” he explained. “Maybe its because I don’t do any of that I can appreciate the level of complexity behind the work.
“My grandfather says anyone can paint art, it takes a genius to sell it,” he added
Born in Mendoza, Argentina, Benavides and his family immigrated to Holbrook, L.I. when he was 11 years old. His family opened a restaurant, and by the time he graduated from Forest Hills High School he knew his older brother was waiting for him to join the family business.
“My brother wanted me to be a chef, so the question after I graduated was whether I would stay here near him or get far away from him,” Benavides said. “I knew the only way I was not going to be a chef was to put as many miles between us as possible.”
So he went to the University of Southern California on a tennis scholarship. He would graduate in 1988 with degrees in accounting and computer science.
Benavides eventually returned to the city and worked as part owner of a steak restaurant. He eventually sold his interest and opened Poets Den at 309 E. 108th St. eight years ago.
Earlier this year East Harlem Presents – headquartered in Poets Den – partnered with Benavides’ friend Alex Yayas and several art galleries in Barcelona, Spain to mount an exchange program which saw 12 artists from that city come to East Harlem to work and exhibit.
“We did a Barcelona-meets-East Harlem exhibit,” Benavides said. “It was so cool, it got me on the ‘Today’ show.”
The group is currently selecting 12 local artists who will head to Barcelona to teach and display their work, Benavides said.
Like minded Poets Den members formed the East Harlem Film Society, a member-funded group with the group. The society screened several award-winning movies over the past years, including “String Ceasar” from South Africa in 2008 and New York-based filmmaker Michael Barketey’s “Threading Needles” from Ghana, West Africa.
The success of those screenings prompted Benavides and the East Harlem Film Society to attempt to try the June festival – and taught them how to treat their stars.
“Every film gets a red carpet, a reception, an after-party, and a question and answer session,” Benavides said. “If you had a film in the festival, you are a film maker and just as important as anyone else.”
“Working with filmmakers made me realize I have one of the easiest jobs in the world,” he said. “I have seen firsthand the things these filmmakers go through to bring their project to fruition, and I tell you I don’t see how they do it. It’s amazing how much love and commitment they put into these projects.
“I hope we can make East Harlem a sanctuary for independent filmmakers.”
Admission for this weekend’s festival is $10 per film or $25 for all day pass, which includes all panels and question and answers sessions.
The Film Society is also holding a contest to design next year’s festival poster, with $1,000 prize for the winning design.
For more information see the website, www.friendsofeastharlem.org.