Jem Cohen and co-director Peter Sillen, both visually involved in Athens’ independent music scene, were introduced to Benjamin—née Robert Dickerson—through Michael Stipe, a longtime fan. Over a decade, Cohen and Stillen craft a compassionate portrait of Benjamin, whose marginality—unclassifiable musician, openly gay, HIV-positive, addict, drag queen—is as spectacular as his unedited authenticity, passionate vitality and sensitive vulnerability. In Atlanta’s eccentric—and gradually gentrifying—area known as Cabbagetown, the filmmakers document Benjamin’s public and private performances, wild musings, Southern left-field surroundings, and his band’s opening for Patti Smith, another fan. A unique soul whose bright flame is sometimes difficult to watch directly, Benjamin seems equally powered by both a passion for life and a self-destructive fatalism. Amid the rough grains of film and notes of Benjamin’s bewitching music, Cohen and Sillen capture the essence of this secret, decadent Southern star.