{"id":184694,"date":"2026-04-03T18:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/184694\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T18:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:00:10","slug":"bens-animals-documentary-to-make-us-premiere-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/184694\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Ben&#8217;s Animals&#8217; documentary to make US premiere in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cBen\u2019s Animals,\u201d a documentary focused on autism, art and advocacy, will make its US premiere in New York City during International Autism Month.<\/p>\n<p>Directed by award-winning filmmaker Evan Beloff, the heartwarming doc is scheduled to kick off at the Culture Lab LIC in Queens on Saturday, April 4.<\/p>\n<p>Beloff co-wrote the film with longtime collaborator Noah Leon. It follows Canadian autistic artist and environmentalist Ben Lachapelle, 23, and centers on how he <a href=\"https:\/\/ben.moosefuel.media\/watch-the-teaser\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">uses his connection to animals<\/a> as an influential voice for change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBen\u2019s Animals,\u201d a documentary focused on autism, art and advocacy, will make its US premiere in New York City. Ben.Mooseful.Media<\/p>\n<p>The doc (featuring Ben Lachapelle, pictured here) is scheduled to premiere at the Culture Lab LIC in Queens on April 4. Ben.Mooseful.Media<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBen\u2019s Animals\u201d explores how creativity, identity and art have the potential to bridge the gap between isolation and community. <\/p>\n<p>The doc also reflects on the many challenges families face while navigating neurodivergence in an often broken and fragmented support system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t just a documentary about autism,\u201d Beloff said of the visually rich documentary. <\/p>\n<p>The doc follows Lachapelle (pictured here) and centers on how he uses his connection to animals as a voice for change. Ben.Mooseful.Media<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBen\u2019s Animals\u201d (seen here) also reflects on the challenges families face while navigating neurodivergence in an often broken and fragmented support system. Ben.Mooseful.Media<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWant more celebrity and pop culture news?\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with Page Six Daily.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about how one young man sees the world,\u201d he added, \u201cand how much we all stand to gain by listening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBen\u2019s Animals\u201d is told through a mix of hand-drawn animation, Lachapelle\u2019s childhood archives, personal interviews and storytelling in the unique cin\u00e9ma v\u00e9rit\u00e9 documentary style.<\/p>\n<p>An official press release for the film described it as a \u201cpoetic, moving and joyful portrait of a remarkable young man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t just a documentary about autism,\u201d director Evan Beloff said. \u201cIt\u2019s about how one young man sees the world, and how much we all stand to gain by listening.\u201d Ben.Mooseful.Media<\/p>\n<p>Lachapelle (pictured here in \u201cBen\u2019s Animals\u201d) will join Beloff onstage for a 30-minute Q&amp;A session following the screening. Ben.Mooseful.Media<\/p>\n<p>The Culture Lab LIC doors open at 2:30 p.m. and the 50-minute film begins at 3:00 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Following the first-ever US screening of \u201cBen\u2019s Animals,\u201d Lachapelle will join Beloff and Leon onstage for a 30-minute Q&amp;A session.<\/p>\n<p>A pop-up exhibition and reception following the Q&amp;A session will also reportedly include live drawing demos by Lachapelle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cBen\u2019s Animals,\u201d a documentary focused on autism, art and advocacy, will make its US premiere in New York&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[14836,2471,157,158,9,24,56,63,65,64,9366],"class_list":{"0":"post-184694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-autism","9":"tag-documentaries","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nyc-headlines","17":"tag-nyc-news","18":"tag-premieres"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}