James Benning
Personal Info
Known for
Directing
Gender
Male
Birthday
1942-12-28 (82 years old)
Place of Birth
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
James Benning
Biography
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.
Acting
Maintenance
as Himself
(2021)
Benning's Dream
as Self (voice)
(2020)
She Dies Tomorrow
as Leatherman
(2020)
(2019)
(2018)
L. Cohen
as Himself
(2018)
Telemundo
as Himself
(2016)
(2013)
Coming to Terms
as The Father
(2013)
(2011)
The Great Gatsby in Five Minutes
as Owl Eyes
(2003)
James Benning: Circling the Image
as Himself
(1997)
Four Corners
as Narrator
(1989)
Used Innocence
as (voice)
(1975)
Crew
(2025)
little boy
Director
(2024)
Cuba, an Historical Romance
Director
(2024)
Breathless
Director
(2022)
Exquisite Moving Corpse
Director
(2022)
TEN YEARS LATER
Director
(2022)
Allensworth
Director, Producer
(2022)
The United States of America
Director
(2021)
From Bakersfield to Mojave
Director
(2020)
PLACE
Director
(2020)
Maggie's Farm
Director, Editor, Writer, Director of Photography
(2020)
On Paradise Road
Director
(2020)
(2019)
daylight
Director
(2019)
The Wrecker Kings
Thanks
(2019)
Two Moons
Director
(2018)
SAM
Director
(2018)
L. Cohen
Director
(2018)
glory
Director
(2018)
Telemundo
Director, Producer
(2018)
Birth of a Nation
Director
(2018)
(2017)
Untitled Fragments
Director
(2017)
Readers
Director
(2016)
Measuring Change
Director
(2016)
Spring Equinox
Director
(2016)
scorched earth
Director
(2016)
Ash 01
Director
(2016)
Fall Equinox
Director
(2016)
wavelength
Director
(2016)
thinking of red
Director
(2016)
Fresh Air
Director
(2015)
(2015)
Perimeter
Director
(2015)
52 Films
Director
(2014)
Natural History
Director
(2014)
US 41
Director
(2014)
signs
Director
(2014)
HF
Director
(2014)
Concord Woods
Director
(2014)
FUCK ME (green)
Director
(2014)
FUCK ME (orange)
Director
(2013)
BNSF
Director
(2012)
The War
Director
(2012)
Stemple Pass
Director, Producer, Editor, Director of Photography
(2012)
Nightfall
Director
(2012)
Easy Rider
Director, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography, Producer
(2012)
Postscript
Director
(2012)
One Way Boogie Woogie
Director
(2012)
20 Little Films
Director
(2012)
All That She Surveys
Writer
(2011)
Twenty Cigarettes
Director, Writer
(2011)
Small Roads
Director
(2011)
Two Cabins
Director
(2011)
Faces
Director
(2011)
(2011)
After Warhol
Director
(2010)
Pig Iron
Producer, Writer, Director, Director of Photography
(2010)
Faces 1973
Director
(2010)
(2010)
(2010)
Tulare Road
Director
(2010)
Reforming the Past
Director
(2009)
Ruhr
Director, Editor, Director of Photography, Writer, Sound Editor
(2009)
Fire & Rain
Director
(2008)
Lunch Break
Editor
(2007)
RR
Director
(2007)
Casting a Glance
Editor, Director, Writer, Producer, Director of Photography
(2007)
Water Spell
Thanks
(2005)
(2005)
74.78
Director
(2004)
13 Lakes
Director
(2004)
Ten Skies
Director, Producer
(2002)
Sogobi
Director
(2001)
Los
Director
(1999)
El Valley Centro
Director
(1998)
Utopia
Director
(1997)
Four Corners
Director
(1996)
Deseret
Director
(1995)
(1992)
North on Evers
Director
(1989)
Used Innocence
Director, Writer
(1988)
TABLE TOP
Director
(1987)
Landscape Suicide
Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Producer, Editor
(1985)
O Panama
Sound, Director of Photography, Editor, Director
(1984)
American Dreams (Lost and Found)
Director
(1984)
Pascal's Lemma
Director
(1982)
Him and Me
Director
(1979)
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
Director, Writer
(1977)
11 x 14
Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
(1977)
One Way Boogie Woogie
Director, Writer
(1976)
Chicago Loop
Director
(1975)
(1975)
The United States of America
Director
(1975)
9-1-75
Director
(1974)
8½ x 11
Director
(1974)
I-94
Director
(1974)
Michigan Avenue
Director
(1972)
Time and a Half
Director
(1971)