Hannah Benson

Interview with singer/songwriter Miranda del Sol for Girl Gang NYC Blog

Pertrunya (Zorica Nusheva) is well educated, unemployed, and stuck in the small Macedonian town of Štip. Tired and on her way home from a bad job interview, Petrunya passes a group of men ready to participate in the throwing of the cross on Epiphany. The priest throws the cross and men dive into the river and whoever gets the cross first is blessed with fortune and prosperity. Though women do not traditionally participate, Petrunya jumps into the river and gets the cross. Based on a true stor...

Perhaps unsurprisingly, four of the five live action short films nominated at the 2021 Oscars revolve around policing or the prison system. After a year of protests for racial justice around the world, these short films seek to further examine the relationship between civilians and cops. A unifying theme across all five live action shorts is that they address systemic failures or injustices.
Pedro Almodóvar’s The Human Voice starring Tilda Swinton in a powerhouse performance is a notable omis...

Stacey Lee’s documentary Underplayed focuses on women in the electronic music industry and community. Famous DJs Rezz, Alison Wonderland, and more share their stories of struggle and success in a male dominated field. Composer/DJ/Electronic Music Producer Kate Simko channeled her own experiences as a woman in electronic music to create a compelling and moving score for the film. With track names like “Striving,” “Ahead of Her Time,” and “Second Guessed,” Simko’s score mirrors and emphasizes t...

There are some songs that elicit a nostalgia so powerful it overwhelms the senses. To use a “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” needle-drop in one's film is to reference an entire cinematic universe onto itself, filled with moments of slow dances, disintegrating romances, and delusion.

“Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” is a show tune written by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical Roberta. It appeared in the 1935 film version of the musical and its 1952 sequel “Lovely to Look At.” In 1958, The Pla...

The legacy of electronic dance music is built upon ideals of togetherness, inclusion, and joy. For women looking to work as DJs or producers in the industry, these ideals fail to uplift them in practice. Directed by Stacey Lee, the documentary Underplayed focuses on the struggles and breakthroughs of women in the electronic music industry, including DJs, producers, and engineers. There are a variety of interviews with current artists like Alison Wonderland, Rezz, Tokimonsta, and Sherelle. Thi...

Content Warning: Depictions of sexual assault and trauma.
In its first moments, Shatara Michelle Ford’s debut feature Test Pattern gives a glimpse of the drama to come for Renesha (Brittany S. Hall), a young Black woman living in Austin, Texas. She sits on a bed, appearing nearly unconscious, while a man continues to kiss her despite her lack of reciprocity. Within seconds, this is temporarily left behind as Renesha meets and falls for Evan (Will Brill), a white tattoo artist. Renesha has one...

Interview with Tymie

Interview with Daisy the Great for Girl Gang NYC Blog

Interview with Danish Singer-Songwriter Emi Wes for Girl Gang NYC

With a strange holiday season this year, Clea DuVall’s Happiest Season is the perfect comfort watch that also breaks a few boundaries. The central relationship in the film is between Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis), a couple on their way home to visit Harper’s family for Christmas. On the way there Harper reveals she is still closeted in fear of losing her parents’ hyperconditional love and approval. Abby must now pretend to be Harper’s straight roommate, which unleashes a...

As I prepare to spend the holidays alone in New York City, I can’t help but feel like a cliche. Hundreds of women before me moved to this sprawling city in search of their dreams and hundreds will do it after I am gone. This idea is so ubiquitous in our culture, conjuring images of Nora Ephron films, Sex and the City, Frances Ha, and Girls. However, it was Claudia Weill’s 1978 feature Girlfriends where this journey was sensitively brought to the screen, forever changing the cinematic landscap...

Happy Trans awareness week! There is so much progress to be made to help protect the lives and livelihoods of our trans brothers and sisters, especially within the media. While we continue the fight for better political and social protections for the LGBTQ+ community, there are lots of great feature films and documentaries that shed light on the diversity of the trans and gender non-conforming experience. Here are some of my favorites to help you celebrate and learn.
1.) Tomboy
Written and di...

After a horrific Presidential debate, Americans are waking up with the fatigue that results from being yelled at and lied to by our own President for more than an hour as him and his enablers continue to destroy and devalue our democracy. This is not a new feeling. Unfortunately, it is one that dominated the last four years and too much of this nation’s history. For many, including myself, Trump’s racist, sexist vitriol brought feelings of anger and powerlessness to the surface. The President...