- Known For
- Directing
- Born
- December 28, 1942
- Place of Birth
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
James Benning
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…
Filmography
movieEight Bridges
2026 · Director
movieAdulthood
2026 · Writer
movieLittle Boy
2025 · Director
Cuba, an Historical Romance
movieCuba, an Historical Romance
2024 · Director
movieBreathless
2024 · Director
movieAllensworth
2022 · Director, Producer
movieTEN YEARS LATER
2022 · Director
movieExquisite Moving Corpse
2022 · Director
movieThe United States of America
2022 · Director, Writer
movieBenning's Dream
2021 · Self (voice)
movieIn Process...
2021 · Director
movieFrom Bakersfield to Mojave
2021 · Director
Dancing in the Street, 11 grados de separación
movieDancing in the Street, 11 grados de separación
2020 · Director
movieOn Paradise Road
2020 · , Director
moviePLACE
2020 · Director
movieShe Dies Tomorrow
2020 · Leatherman
movieMaggie's Farm
2020 · Director, Editor, Writer, Director of Photography
movie中孚 61. The Inner Truth
2019
moviedaylight
2019 · Director
movieTwo Moons
2019 · Director
movieThe Wrecker Kings
2019 · Thanks
movieTelemundo
2018 · Himself, Director, Producer
movieafter Traylor. Thoreau cabin (2008-2018)
2018 · Director
movieglory
2018 · Director
Birth of a Nation
movieBirth of a Nation
2018 · Director
movieL. Cohen
2018 · Himself, Director
SAM
movieSAM
2018 · Director
movieReaders
2017 · Director
Untitled Fragments
movieUntitled Fragments
2017 · Director
Ash 01
movieAsh 01
2016 · Director
scorched earth
moviescorched earth
2016 · Director
thinking of red
moviethinking of red
2016 · , Director
movieFall Equinox
2016 · Director
wavelength
moviewavelength
2016 · Director
movieSpring Equinox
2016 · Director
movieMeasuring Change
2016 · Director
Fresh Air
movieFresh Air
2016 · Director
movieSanta Teresa & Other Stories
2015 · Thanks
moviePerimeter
2015 · Director
movie52 Films
2015 · Director
Concord Woods
movieConcord Woods
2014 · Director
movieNatural History
2014 · Director
HF
movieHF
2014 · Director
US 41
movieUS 41
2014 · Director
moviesigns
2014 · Director
FUCK ME (green)
movieFUCK ME (green)
2014 · Director
FUCK ME (orange)
movieFUCK ME (orange)
2014 · Director
movieComing to Terms
2013 · The Father
movieDouble Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater
2013 · Self
movieBNSF
2013 · Director
movieThe War
2012 · Director
movieOne Way Boogie Woogie
2012 · Director
movieEasy Rider
2012 · Director, Director of Photography, Writer, Producer, Editor
movieStemple Pass
2012 · Ted Kaczynski (voice), Director, Producer, Editor, Director of Photography
moviePostscript
2012 · Director
movieNightfall
2012 · Director
movie20 Little Films
2012 · Director
movieMaintenance
2012 · Himself
movieAll That She Surveys
2012 · Writer
movieAfter Warhol
2011 · Director
movieFaces
2011 · Director
movieSmall Roads
2011 · Director
movieTwo Cabins
2011 · Director
movieYouTube Trilogy: 4 Songs, History, Asian Girls
2011 · Director
movieTwenty Cigarettes
2011 · Director, Writer
movieThe Great Gatsby in Five Minutes
2011 · Owl Eyes
movieTulare Road
2010 · Director
moviePig Iron
2010 · Director, Writer, Producer, Director of Photography
Reforming the Past
movieReforming the Past
2010 · Director
Faces 1973
movieFaces 1973
2010 · Director
movieAmong Enemies: Jeonju Digital Project 2010
2010 · Director
movieJohn Krieg Exiting the Falk Corporation in 1971
2010 · Director
movieRuhr
2009 · Director, Editor, Sound Editor, Director of Photography, Writer
movieFire & Rain
2009 · Director
Lunch Break
movieLunch Break
2008 · Editor
movieRR
2007 · Director
movieCasting a Glance
2007 · Director, Writer, Producer, Editor, Director of Photography
movieWater Spell
2007 · Thanks
movieOne Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later
2005 · Director
movie74.78
2005 · Director
movieTen Skies
2004 · Director, Producer
movie13 Lakes
2004 · Director
movieJames Benning: Circling the Image
2003 · Himself
movieSogobi
2002 · Director
movieLos
2001 · Director
movieEl Valley Centro
2000 · Director
movieUtopia
1998 · Director
movieFour Corners
1997 · Narrator, Director
moviePanama: Exploring the Panama Canal
1995 · Director
movieDeseret
1995 · Director
movieNorth on Evers
1992 · Director
movieForevermore: Biography of a Leach Lord
1989 · , Thanks
movieUsed Innocence
1989 · (voice), Director, Writer
movieTABLE TOP
1988 · Director
movieLandscape Suicide
1987 · Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Producer, Editor
movieO Panama
1985 · Editor, Sound, Director of Photography
movieAmerican Dreams (Lost and Found)
1984 · Director
Pascal's Lemma
moviePascal's Lemma
1984 · Director
movieHim and Me
1982 · Director
movieGrand Opera: An Historical Romance
1979 · Director, Writer
movie11 x 14
1977 · Director, Editor, Producer, Writer, Director of Photography
movieOne Way Boogie Woogie
1977 · Director, Writer
movieChicago Loop
1976 · Director
movie9-1-75
1975 · Director
movieThe United States of America
1975 · , Director
3 Minutes on the Dangers of Film Recording
movie3 Minutes on the Dangers of Film Recording
1975 · Director
movieMichigan Avenue
1974 · Director
movie8½ x 11
1974 · Director
movieI-94
1974 · Director
movieTime and a Half
1972 · Director
Did You Ever Hear That Cricket Sound?
movieDid You Ever Hear That Cricket Sound?
1971 · Director
Two Skies
movieTwo Skies
— · Director