James Benning

Directing·Dec 28, 1942·Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

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Over the past thirty-five years James Benning (b. 1942) has played a central role in the history of American independent cinema by offering his rigorously structured yet wonderfully graceful films as extended meditations on the American landscape and its social and environmental histories. Benning’s life and work have been shaped by his passionate wanderlust—born in Milwaukee, he lived for intervals in Colorado, the Missouri Ozarks, Illinois and Oklahoma before settling in Val Verde, California in 1987, with car and motorcycle journeys around the country generating such films as I-94 (1975) and Four Corners (1997). His career has been equally restless, ranging from his early experimentation with an avant-garde aesthetic to his embrace, during the 1980s and 90s, of explicitly autobiographical elements and increased human content. With his “California Trilogy” (2000-2001) Benning entered a new phase, refining his formalist style and political concerns while distilling his abiding interest in place and exacting organizational structures.

Film	Credit
Eight Bridges2026 · Director	Director
Adulthood2026 · Writer	Writer
Little Boy2025 · Director	Director
CCuba, an Historical Romance2024 · Director	Director
Breathless2024 · Director	Director
Allensworth2022 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
TEN YEARS LATER2022 · Director	Director
Exquisite Moving Corpse2022 · Director	Director
The United States of America2022 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Benning's Dream2021 · Self (voice)	Self (voice)
In Process...2021 · Director	Director
From Bakersfield to Mojave2021 · Director	Director
DDancing in the Street, 11 grados de separación2020 · Director	Director
On Paradise Road2020 · Actor, Director	Actor, Director
PLACE2020 · Director	Director
She Dies Tomorrow2020 · Leatherman	Leatherman
Maggie's Farm2020 · Director, Writer, Director of Photography	Director, Writer, Director of Photography
中孚 61. The Inner Truth2019 · Actor	Actor
daylight2019 · Director	Director
Two Moons2019 · Director	Director
Telemundo2018 · Himself, Director, Producer	Himself, Director, Producer
after Traylor. Thoreau cabin (2008-2018)2018 · Director	Director
glory2018 · Director	Director
BBirth of a Nation2018 · Director	Director
L. Cohen2018 · Himself, Director	Himself, Director
SSAM2018 · Director	Director
Readers2017 · Director	Director
UUntitled Fragments2017 · Director	Director
AAsh 012016 · Director	Director
sscorched earth2016 · Director	Director
tthinking of red2016 · Actor, Director	Actor, Director
Fall Equinox2016 · Director	Director
wwavelength2016 · Director	Director
Spring Equinox2016 · Director	Director
Measuring Change2016 · Director	Director
FFresh Air2016 · Director	Director
Perimeter2015 · Director	Director
52 Films2015 · Director	Director
CConcord Woods2014 · Director	Director
Natural History2014 · Director	Director
UUS 412014 · Director	Director
HHF2014 · Director	Director
signs2014 · Director	Director
FFUCK ME (green)2014 · Director	Director
FFUCK ME (orange)2014 · Director	Director
Coming to Terms2013 · The Father	The Father
Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater2013 · Self	Self
BNSF2013 · Director	Director