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.
Full Filmography
Directing
Time and a Half
(1972)
Director
8½ x 11
(1974)
Director
Michigan Avenue
(1974)
Director
I-94
(1974)
Director
The United States of America
(1975)
Director
9-1-75
(1975)
Director
Chicago Loop
(1976)
Director
11 x 14
(1977)
Director
One Way Boogie Woogie
(1977)
Director
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
(1978)
Director
Him and Me
(1982)
Director
American Dreams (Lost and Found)
(1984)
Director
Pascal's Lemma
(1984)
Director
O Panama
(1985)
Director
Landscape Suicide
(1987)
Director
Used Innocence
(1989)
Director
North on Evers
(1992)
Director
Panama: Exploring the Panama Canal
(1995)
Director
Deseret
(1996)
Director
Four Corners
(1997)
Director
Utopia
(1998)
Director
El Valley Centro
(1999)
Director
Los
(2001)
Director
Sogobi
(2002)
Director
13 Lakes
(2004)
Director
Ten Skies
(2004)
Director
One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later
(2005)
Director
74.78
(2005)
Director
RR
(2007)
Director
Casting a Glance
(2007)
Director
Ruhr
(2009)
Director
Fire & Rain
(2009)
Director
Faces 1973
(2010)
Director
Pig Iron
(2010)
Director
Reforming the Past
(2010)
Director
Among Enemies: Jeonju Digital Project 2010
(2010)
Director
John Krieg Exiting the Falk Corporation in 1971
(2010)
Director
Twenty Cigarettes
(2011)
Director
Small Roads
(2011)
Director
Two Cabins
(2011)
Director
Faces
(2011)
Director
After Warhol
(2011)
Director
YouTube Trilogy
(2011)
Director
The War
(2012)
Director
One Way Boogie Woogie
(2012)
Director
Stemple Pass
(2012)
Director
Nightfall
(2012)
Director
Easy Rider
(2012)
Director
Postscript
(2012)
Director
20 Little Films
(2012)
Director
BNSF
(2013)
Director
Natural History
(2014)
Director
HF
(2014)
Director
US 41
(2014)
Director
signs
(2014)
Director
Concord Woods
(2014)
Director
FUCK ME (orange)
(2014)
Director
FUCK ME (green)
(2014)
Director
Perimeter
(2015)
Director
Measuring Change
(2016)
Director
Spring Equinox
(2016)
Director
scorched earth
(2016)
Director
Ash 01
(2016)
Director
thinking of red
(2016)
Director
wavelength
(2016)
Director
Fall Equinox
(2016)
Director
Fresh Air
(2016)
Director
Untitled Fragments
(2017)
Director
Readers
(2017)
Director
L. Cohen
(2018)
Director
glory
(2018)
Director
Telemundo
(2018)
Director
Birth of a Nation
(2018)
Director
after Traylor. Thoreau cabin (2008-2018)
(2018)
Director
SAM
(2018)
Director
Two Moons
(2019)
Director
daylight
(2019)
Director
Maggie's Farm
(2020)
Director
On Paradise Road
(2020)
Director
Dancing in the Street, 11 grados de separación
(2020)
Director
PLACE
(2020)
Director
From Bakersfield to Mojave
(2021)
Director
The United States of America
(2022)
Director
Exquisite Moving Corpse
(2022)
Director
TEN YEARS LATER
(2022)
Director
Allensworth
(2022)
Director
Breathless
(2024)
Director
Acting
The United States of America
(1975)
Used Innocence
(1989)
(voice)
James Benning: Circling the Image
(2003)
Himself
The Great Gatsby in Five Minutes
(2011)
Owl Eyes
Coming to Terms
(2013)
The Father
Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater
(2013)
Himself
thinking of red
(2016)
L. Cohen
(2018)
Himself
Telemundo
(2018)
Himself
中孚 61. The Inner Truth
(2019)
She Dies Tomorrow
(2020)
Leatherman
On Paradise Road
(2020)
Benning's Dream
(2021)
Self (voice)
Production
11 x 14
(1977)
Producer
Landscape Suicide
(1987)
Producer
Casting a Glance
(2007)
Producer
Pig Iron
(2010)
Producer
Easy Rider
(2012)
Producer
Stemple Pass
(2012)
Producer
Telemundo
(2018)
Producer
Allensworth
(2022)
Producer
Editing
11 x 14
(1977)
Editor
O Panama
(1985)
Editor
Landscape Suicide
(1987)
Editor
Casting a Glance
(2007)
Editor
Lunch Break
(2008)
Editor
Ruhr
(2009)
Editor
Easy Rider
(2012)
Editor
Stemple Pass
(2012)
Editor
Maggie's Farm
(2020)
Editor
Writing
11 x 14
(1977)
Writer
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
(1978)
Writer
Landscape Suicide
(1987)
Writer
Used Innocence
(1989)
Writer
Casting a Glance
(2007)
Writer
Ruhr
(2009)
Writer
Pig Iron
(2010)
Writer
Twenty Cigarettes
(2011)
Writer
Easy Rider
(2012)
Writer
All That She Surveys
(2012)
Writer
Maggie's Farm
(2020)
Writer
Camera
O Panama
(1985)
Director of Photography
Landscape Suicide
(1987)
Director of Photography
Ruhr
(2009)
Director of Photography
Easy Rider
(2012)
Director of Photography
Stemple Pass
(2012)
Director of Photography
Sound
Crew