Benjamin Smoke photo: Michael Ackerman

Film/Video MOTION PICTURES: THE FILM AND VIDEO PORTRAITS OF JEM COHEN AND PETER SILLEN AREA PREMIERE: BENJAMIN SMOKE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15-16, 2000, 8 PM $6 ($3 WALKER MEMBERS) AUDITORIUM

A skeletal, chain-smoking musician of absolute elegance, Benjamin became a fixture of Atlanta's underground-music scene. He defied musical classification from punk to jazz with his bands Smoke and the Opal Foxx Quartet. Despite occasional critical acclaim and support from Michael Stipe and Patti Smith, he remained a marginal figure in the music industry. Cohen and Sillen create an intimate portrait of this artist who made a name for himself as an HIV-positive cross-dressing performer and maintained an air of grace even as he lived in squalor. 2000, U.S., 80 minutes.