{"id":184876,"date":"2026-04-03T21:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/184876\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:28:17","slug":"bens-animals-documentary-to-make-us-premiere-in-nyc-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/184876\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ben\u2019s Animals\u2019 documentary to make US premiere in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\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

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

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 uses his connection to animals<\/a> as an influential voice for change.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cBen\u2019s<\/p>\n

\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

\"The<\/p>\n

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

\u201cBen\u2019s Animals\u201d explores how creativity, identity and art have the potential to bridge the gap between isolation and community.<\/p>\n

The doc also reflects on the many challenges families face while navigating neurodivergence in an often broken and fragmented support system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just a documentary about autism,\u201d Beloff said of the visually rich documentary.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

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

\"\u201cBen\u2019s<\/p>\n

\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

\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

\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

An official press release for the film described it as a \u201cpoetic, moving and joyful portrait of a remarkable young man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThis<\/p>\n

\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

\"Lachapelle<\/p>\n

Lachapelle (pictured here in \u201cBen\u2019s Animals\u201d) will join Beloff onstage for a 30-minute Q&A session following the screening. Ben.Mooseful.Media<\/p>\n

The Culture Lab LIC doors open at 2:30 p.m. and the 50-minute film begins at 3:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Following the first-ever US screening of \u201cBen\u2019s Animals,\u201d Lachapelle will join Beloff and Leon onstage for a 30-minute Q&A session.<\/p>\n

A pop-up exhibition and reception following the Q&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…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[74360,74359,74361,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-184876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-ben-lachapelle","9":"tag-evan-beloff","10":"tag-lachapelle","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184876","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=184876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}