RI Docs Wants Rhode Islanders Back in the Theater

Kirk Benttinen believes there is a demand for local stories that represent Rhode Island and the people who call this state home. The award-winning filmmaker created RI Docs to capture the people, places, and wonderfully specific personalities that give the state its character, then bring those films into a theater where the community can experience them together.

Benttinen grew up in Rhode Island and attended URI before spending 16 years in New York City and San Francisco. During his 15-year career behind the camera, he worked across narrative film, documentaries, and commercial projects - recently finishing his first comedy feature Spin Junkies and working on national ads with brands like Expedia and Ancestry. He eventually returned home because he believed Rhode Island could become more than a backdrop for outside productions. It could support an independent film culture of its own.

“We’re making cinematic, professional-quality films about Rhode Islanders for Rhode Islanders,” says Benttinen. He sees RI Docs as both a cultural preservation project and an economic engine, one capable of supporting local filmmakers while giving everyday Ocean State lives the care usually reserved for faraway subjects.

That vision comes into focus in The Pizza Principal, which follows a pizza-obsessed high school vice principal whose popular local reviews rekindle his dream of becoming a writer. The film will headline RI Docs’ November 20 premiere at The Uptown Theater in Providence.

The evening will also feature three RI Docs shorts, surprise performances from local artists, and a post-screening pizza party where pizzerias featured in the film will serve pies and mingle with guests. It’s designed as more than a screening. Benttinen sees the event as proof that locally made films can reach Rhode Island audiences through special nights built around live performances, food, and conversation.

RI Docs is currently raising $30,000 in finishing funds for The Pizza Principal on Kickstarter. Premiere tickets are available as campaign donation perks and will go on sale to the public later this month. You can back the project and learn more at Kickstarter.com.

Other RI Docs films spotlight one of Rhode Island’s last neon artists and a 100-year-old street photographer from Federal Hill. Three shorts are already streaming free through PBS.

Benttinen hopes the premiere proves that Rhode Islanders “want to see themselves on the big screen, want to be taken seriously, and that our stories matter.” Visit kirkbenttinen.com for tickets and premiere updates, and follow @RhodeIslandDocs on Instagram for more information.