Ben Apfelbaum

DESTINATION ARNOLD PREMIERE @ SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2016

Natasha Lawrence, Sascha Ettinger Epstein (director), Kylene Anderson, Jenny Neighbour (producer).
Natasha Lawrence, Sascha Ettinger Epstein (director), Kylene Anderson, Jenny Neighbour (producer).

Natasha Lawrence and Kylene Anderson are two indigenous women who have a dream to make it to the Arnolds – an amateur bodybuilding competition being held in Australia for the first time.

The determined women struggle with diets, exercises and inner demons in their roller coaster efforts to achieve their Arnie inspired goal.

Director Sascha Epstein is building quite a portfolio of work.. Her documentary Painting With Light In A Dark World screened at Sydney Film Festival 2003. Other films include Playing In The Shadows which screened at the SFF in 2008 and Change of Heart which screened in SFF in 2005.
Director Sascha Epstein is building quite a portfolio of work.. Her documentary Painting With Light In A Dark World screened at Sydney Film Festival (SFF) 2003. Other films include Playing In The Shadows which screened at the SFF in 2008 and Change of Heart which screened in SFF in 2005.

Filmmaker Sascha Ettinger Epstein filmed the Sydney duo over two years, making for a warm, affecting and entertaining documentary.

http://www.pursekey.com.au/destination-arnold-two-girls-one-dream/

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.