Kevin Arbouet’s ‘Benji The Dove’ Premieres On Amazon Prime Starting Sept. 28
Premiering on Amazon Prime today, September 28th, 2020 and making its US debut is ‘Benji The Dove,’ based on Fridrik Erlingsson’s critically acclaimed Icelandic children book BENJAMIN DOVE. The book was adapted to film by Academy Award Nicholls Fellowship Finalist, Kevin Arbouet, who also directed the feature, co-written by Brandon Dickerson. The film is a tender tale of four boys rapidly coming to terms with school, bullies, friendship and loyalty.
The film stars Gerald Jones III, who plays the lead character of Benji. Jones can be seen starring next in Netflix’s film called Vampire vs The Bronx. The film also stars Kelly Aucoin (Billions), Karen Pittman (Detroit, Yellow Stone), Frances Turner (The Man in the High Castle) and Lynn Cohen in one of her last roles before she died.
The film producers are Gregory S. Martin and Erlingur Gudmundsson. The Icelandic film version of the novel was released in 1995 where it was accepted into over 35 film festivals and won over a dozen awards. Twenty-two years later this recognizable Icelandic classic has traveled outside of the island and has made its way to the United States.
Kevin Arbouet is a writer, director, and producer whose career has been about expanding the idea of what diversity in filmmaking really means. As the former Vice President of Lee Daniels Entertainment, he is not only a rising Black and Latino writer/director with a penchant for classic storytelling, but one who is defying stereotyped expectations. He has directed a number of commercials (including a Super Bowl commercial for Icelandic Glacial Water), and segments for Conan (Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog), as well as being voted one of the Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch by Movie Maker Magazine.
His next film “Big Bad Billie Gunn” in which the script placed on the prestigious Academy Award’s Nicholls Fellowship is being produced by the legendary Shannon McIntosh whose recent credits include "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" and "The Hateful Eight" for Quentin Tarantino.