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James Benning

Film Director / Film Producer | * 12/28/1942 (81) | Milwaukee, Wisconsin (United States of America (USA))
James Benning (born 1942) is an American independent filmmaker and educator. Over the course of his 40-year career Benning has made over twenty-five feature-length films that have shown in many different venues across the world. Since 1987, he has taught at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). He is known as a minimalist filmmaker. ()

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.

Photo of James Benning
Most frequent genres for this person: Documentaries | Drama | Animation

Known for these Movies & Shows

Awards & Nominations for James Benning

Guggenheim Fellowship
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Movies with James Benning as Actor(10)

as Self (voice)2021 Benning's Dream
as Leatherman2020 She Dies Tomorrow
as himself2018 L. Cohen
as The Father2013 Coming to Terms
as (voice)1989 Used Innocence

Movies with James Benning as Crew(91)

Directing/Director2022 Allensworth
Production/Producer2022 Allensworth
Directing/Director2022 The United States of America
Directing/Director2021 From Bakersfield to Mojave
Crew/Cinematography2020 Maggie's Farm
Directing/Director2020 Maggie's Farm
Editing/Editor2020 Maggie's Farm
Writing/Writer2020 Maggie's Farm
Directing/Director2020 On Paradise Road
Directing/Director2019 two moons
Directing/Director2018 L. Cohen
Directing/Director2017 Readers
Directing/Director2016 Measuring Change
Directing/Director2016 Spring Equinox
Directing/Director2016 Fall Equinox
Directing/Director2015 Perimeter
Directing/Director2014 Natural History
Directing/Director2013 BNSF
Camera/Director of Photography2012 Stemple Pass
Directing/Director2012 Stemple Pass
Editing/Editor2012 Stemple Pass
Production/Producer2012 Stemple Pass
Camera/Director of Photography2012 Easy Rider
Directing/Director2012 Easy Rider
Editing/Editor2012 Easy Rider
Production/Producer2012 Easy Rider
Writing/Writer2012 Easy Rider
Directing/Director2012 Nightfall
Directing/Director2012 One Way Boogie Woogie
Writing/Writer2012 All That She Surveys
Directing/Director2011 YouTube Trilogy
Directing/Director2011 Twenty Cigarettes
Writing/Writer2011 Twenty Cigarettes
Directing/Director2011 Faces
Directing/Director2011 After Warhol
Directing/Director2011 Small Roads
Directing/Director2010 Two Cabins
Crew/Cinematography2010 Pig Iron
Directing/Director2010 Pig Iron
Production/Producer2010 Pig Iron
Writing/Writer2010 Pig Iron
Camera/Director of Photography2009 Ruhr
Directing/Director2009 Ruhr
Editing/Editor2009 Ruhr
Sound/Sound Editor2009 Ruhr
Writing/Writer2009 Ruhr
Crew/Cinematography2007 casting a glance
Directing/Director2007 casting a glance
Editing/Editor2007 casting a glance
Production/Producer2007 casting a glance
Writing/Writer2007 casting a glance
Crew/Thanks2007 Water Spell
Directing/Director2007 RR
Directing/Director2004 13 Lakes
Directing/Director2004 Ten Skies
Directing/Director2002 Sogobi
Directing/Director2001 Los
Directing/Director1999 El Valley Centro
Directing/Director1998 Utopia
Directing/Director1997 Four Corners
Directing/Director1995 Deseret
Directing/Director1992 North on Evers
Directing/Director1989 Used Innocence
Writing/Writer1989 Used Innocence
Camera/Director of Photography1986 Landscape Suicide
Directing/Director1986 Landscape Suicide
Editing/Editor1986 Landscape Suicide
Production/Producer1986 Landscape Suicide
Writing/Writer1986 Landscape Suicide
Camera/Director of Photography1985 O Panama
Directing/Director1985 O Panama
Editing/Editor1985 O Panama
Sound/Sound1985 O Panama
Directing/Director1984 American Dreams (Lost and Found)
Directing/Director1982 Him and Me
Directing/Director1978 Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
Directing/Director1977 One Way Boogie Woogie
Directing/Director1977 11 x 14
Editing/Editor1977 11 x 14
Production/Producer1977 11 x 14
Writing/Writer1977 11 x 14
Directing/Director1976 Chicago Loop
Directing/Director1975 9-1-75
Directing/Director1975 The United States of America
Directing/Director1974 8½ x 11
Directing/Director1974 I-94
Directing/Director1974 Michigan Avenue

Full Name: James Benning
Born: Monday, 12/28 1942 (December) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (United States of America (USA)) (current age: 81 years + 92 days)
Zodiac sign: Capricorn (Chinese zodiac sign: Horse)
Languages: English (EN)
Educated at: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Employer: Northwestern University, California Institute of the Arts
Children: Sadie Benning
Other names for James Benning (nicknames, foreign languages etc.):
"James Benning (film director)"
James Benning frequently works together with these people:
Jon Jost (8x, Crew)
Leonardo Pirondi (5x, Crew)
Amy Seimetz (4x, Actress)
Gabe Klinger (4x, Crew)
Bette Gordon (3x, Crew)
Ryan M. Price (2x, Crew)
Reinhard Wulf (2x, Crew)
Mondo Boys (2x, Crew)
Jay Keitel (2x, Crew)
WatchPlayStream ID: PEOPLE:445540, Added: 09/24/2018, Last updated: 03/14/2024