Virtual Screening + Q&A | Two Ships (2025) with Filmmakers McKinley, Mackenzie, and Jodi Benson

Join us for a virtual screening of a new animated short film, Two Ships (2025), followed by a Q&A with its creators. In this hand-drawn film, a couple working opposite schedules attempt to maintain their connection through fleeting encounters. Learn about the creation of this heartwarming, family-made film with its Executive Producer and Disney Legend Jodi Benson, Director and Co-Writer McKinley Benson, and Co-Writer and Producer Mackenzie Benson.

Questions can be submitted during the webinar through Zoom's Q&A function. Due to anticipated demand and limited Q&A time, not all submitted questions will be answered.

All participants must sign up here by 5pm PT on Tuesday, November 18. Participants must have a Zoom account to attend the webinar. A link to the webinar and instructions for joining will be sent via email prior to the event.

Tickets for Virtual Screening + Q&A | Two Ships (2025) with Filmmakers McKinley, Mackenzie, and Jodi Benson will be available beginning Tuesday, October 28 at noon PST.

McKinley Benson is a filmmaker and alumnus of the Savannah College of Art and Design, graduating summa cum laude with a BFA in Film and Television. He is a director, producer, and writer responsible for dozens of narrative shorts, television pilots, and documentaries, screening at Oscar®-qualifying festivals around the world and garnering three Emmy® Awards. In 2017, McKinley co-founded the independent production studio Room 330, dedicated to high-quality, storyteller-driven projects. Over the course of his career, he has had the pleasure of working with companies such as Netflix, Amazon Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount, and XYZ Films. Two Ships marks McKinley’s first animated film, which he is grateful to be producing in partnership with the Oscar®-nominated production cooperative COLA Animation.

Mackenzie Benson is a photographer and alumnus of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography. She is currently working as a freelance photographer, retoucher, and color specialist. Her portfolio combines soft, ethereal tones with bold contrasts, capturing the unique character of her subjects in both color and black-and-white. This sensibility extends to the visual style of Two Ships, which marks Mackenzie’s first venture into both filmmaking and animation.

Jodi Benson has received worldwide recognition & critical acclaim as the voice of Ariel in Walt Disne Animation Studios’ The Little Mermaid (1989), the titular role in Warner Bros’ Thumbelina (1994), Weebo in Walt Disney Pictures’ Flubber (1997), and Tour Guide Barbie in Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 2 (1999)and . She starred in Crazy For You as Polly Baker, receiving Tony® and Helen Hayes® Award nominations for Best Actress in a Musical. Other Broadway credits include Smile, Welcome to the Club, and Marilyn. Internationally, she has had the honor of sharing the stage with her husband, Ray Benson, at the European premiere of Ira Gershwin’s My One & Only, starring as Miss Edythe Herbert. In Los Angeles, she starred in the critically-acclaimed Reprise/UCLA production of Babes in Arms, South Pacific, Flora the Red Menace, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, and Chess, for which she won the Best Actress Drama League Award. Two Ships, created by her son, McKinley, and his wife, Mackenzie, marks Jodi's first time as an executive producer.

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