Local artist, filmmaker Marc Bennett offers free Friday event
Gaby Hirsch/Courtesy photo
Marc Bennett is world-renowned, especially within celebrated Jewish networks, for his artistic talent and compelling storytelling about Judaism. He is an award-winning filmmaker and globally-exhibited artist.
On Friday, at the Aspen Chabad JCC, he will host a free community event where he will share photos from behind-the-scenes of his films and the stories and histories that triggered these projects. Sprinkled throughout the engagement will be images of his art installations and current non-profit endeavors.
He’s a native of Brooklyn and attended The Brooklyn Museum Art School, The School of Visual Arts in New York City, and Art Center in Los Angeles. His art installations are shown in museums, synagogues, JCCs, and institutions.
Bennett has directed several award-winning shorts and feature documentaries including “The Tattooed Torah” and “Hot Flash Havoc.” He produced the documentaries: “Who Are The Marcuses?”, “Shared Legacies: The African- American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance,” and is a co-writer, co-producer, and co-director on the upcoming documentary, “For the Living.”
Over one million children have seen Bennett’s animated short “The Tattooed Torah,” which teaches lessons of the Holocaust in an age-appropriate format and context.
“What’s crazy is that here we are in 2023, and we are still dealing with genocide in the war in Ukraine,” said Bennett.
The filmmaker’s most recent project, “For the Living,” is a documentary about an empathetic mission of 250 cyclists to retrace the steps of a 10-year-old Holocaust survivor’s treacherous 60-mile journey by foot from Auschwitz-Birkenau, through an active war zone, to Krakow, Poland.
“Participating in The Ride For The Living this year was an incredible honor especially riding side by side with the two Holocaust survivors who are in the film. Their lives and journeys are an inspiration to us all,” said Bennett.
He added, “This film — and its exploration into why we still have genocide happening now almost 80 years after the worst mass murder in history at Auschwitz — seems more relevant today than ever, especially with what we are witnessing right now in Ukraine.”
Aspen-based Melinda Goldrich, who helped bring last month’s Israeli nonprofit Bartali/Youth in Movement to the Valley, is also executive producer of the film.
“I met Melinda here through the JCC. We have a lot of commonalities, we are both very passionate about the Jewish community and its invaluable history and lessons,” said Bennett.
This Friday’s presentation is a dual celebration of his connection to the Aspen Jewish community and a journey through his projects from Israel to the Roaring Fork Valley.
“I remember meeting Rabbi Mendel in 2007, and I told him when the JCC is built, I would make a piece for the space,” he said.
He made good on his word — and then some. In 2014, he gifted “The History of the Star of David” to the Aspen Chabad JCC.
“I had no idea that this installation would be so captivating and life-altering. By me making this art piece as a gift of gratitude, I was then gifted with all these art and film projects,” added Bennett.
Weaving between film and art, he uses his talent to help bridge communities. One of his initiatives is a philanthropic partnership with the American Friends of Soroka Medical Center, which was in part supported by El Al Airlines. A monumental installation of the “The History of the Star of David” is now the focal point of the Healing Garden at Soroka’s Legacy Heritage Oncology Center in Israel.
The work at Soroka Medical Center will be licensed to produce merchandise that will benefit the hospital.
Friday’s event at 4:30 p.m. is free and open to the public. For more information about Bennett and his work, visit starofdavidart.com.
