Ben Powell
2021Barge
Ben Powell
A towboat drifts down the Mississippi River, due for the port of New Orleans. The water, the banks, the bright lights of a port ahead; the lure of a coming paycheck and a home-cooked meal. This is the world of BARGE. A green deckhand following his father into the family business. A former convict working his way upward job by job, in the hopes of being First Mate. A thirty-eight year veteran engineer in no hurry to retire. An ancient waterway pulling a double shift as the backbone of a national economy; a tangle of thick steel cables, tied together just right. As long as the boat’s moving, they’re making money. An intimate portrait of the machinery of American ambitions.
Barge
Phil Collins and the Wild Frontier
Ben Powell
On a 5-day book tour, pop music legend Phil Collins promotes a new book that catalogues his obscure collection of artifacts from the Battle of the Alamo. As he answers questions about his collection and his retirement from music, we observe the impact his public persona has had on his life and the more painful realities of being a celebrity. What emerges is an examination of mankind’s obsession with artifacts.
Phil Collins and the Wild Frontier