Harry Benson: Shoot First 

Now here’s a documentary for those who adore art, culture, music, fashion, politics, celebrity & larger than life celebratory,  astonishing and horrendously shocking legendary moments in time.

Saying that Scottish photographer Harry Benson is a Zelig-like character who’s witnessed every major cultural and political event of the last 50 years is not an exaggeration. Here’s just a partial resumé of the man’s astounding life: he arrived in America with the Beatles in 1964 as a photographer for their American tour (he took the famous photo of the Beatles’ hotel room pillow fight); he has photographed every American president from Eisenhower to Obama; he was just a few feet away from Bobby Kennedy on the night Kennedy was assassinated; he was alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Meredith march and attended his funeral; he was in the room when Nixon resigned; he was there when the Berlin Wall went up—and when it came down; and he has taken iconic fashion photos for the likes of Vanity Fair, Paris Match and a half-dozen other magazines.

Benson, now 86 and still working, certainly deserves the wonderful tribute offered here in Matthew Miele and Justin Bare’s fascinating portrait. Featuring testimonials from Sharon Stone, Alec Baldwin, Donald Trump, Piers Morgan, Dan Rather, James L. Brooks, Henry Kissinger, Ralph Lauren and Joe Namath among others, the film reveals that Benson is not only a globetrotting legend of the photography world but that he’s also a nice guy!

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Source: VIFF  M/A/D | Style in Film