James Benning Movies

A view of an Oregon farm field, observing a solar eclipse and incorporating a Leonard Cohen song.

Six soldiers wandering in search of enemies in the forest where they can't see an inch ahead. While gathering on the island to prepare Shakespeare's...

Exploring the Panama Canal is a fascinating journey through the land of mystery and adventure and the Canal that divides it. Through rare archival...

Twenty-two minute tracking shot through campgrounds in Southern Wisconsin

Seven entirely static shots make up James Benning's quiet reflection on existence in the Ruhr Valley.

A document of one of the most famous 66 miles of railroad track in the world including the Tehachapi Loop.

Named after the Shoshonean word for "Earth", this is the third and final part of Benning's "California Trilogy" and his approach to the Californian...

Sixty one-minute shots with no camera movement. This tension between painterly and cinematic space is not only experienced as an intellectual...

Video essay providing a brief introduction to the work of James Benning for his exhibition at neugerriemschneider.

Filmed at Benning's home in Val Verde during the first month of the pandemic, the film is a portrait of that time.

James Benning's "Four Corners" uses a specific geographical location to pose larger questions about the United States. Here, the geographic and...

A filmic paean to artist Robert Smithson's legendary "earthwork" sculpture, the Spiral Jetty. Created in 1970, the Jetty is a 1,500-foot long...

Intercourse between two people who never appear on the screen at the same time. An exploration of sex and male/female identities.

Los Angeles is depicted in 35 stationary shots, each 2½ minutes long, in this non-narrative film, part 2 of Benning's "California Trilogy".

Short by James Benning.

Text by Theodore J. Kaczynski, made of scans of a document from an FBI Laboratory, about the danger of experiments with accelerated particles.

Four landscape shots containing a replica of Ted Kaczynski’s cabin, one shot per season. On the soundtrack, Benning reads extracts from...

One half filmed in 1977, one half filmed 27 years later. Director combined the structural analysis of image and sound with fragments of a narrative...

One day, father makes a shocking decision in a family gathering. The family disagrees with it and against him in the very beginning. However, they...

In summer 2011, James Benning returned to his hometown of Milwaukee to make a third version of his seminal 1977 film 'One Way Boogie Woogie'. In 1977...