James Benning

James Benning

Directing
Born 1942-12-28 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA 112 credits Guggenheim Fellowship 1

Awards

Won 1 Guggenheim Fellowship Award

Guggenheim Fellowship 1 won

  • 1986 Guggenheim Fellowship Won

Award data from Wikidata (CC0). Coverage may be incomplete.

Read 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.
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Filmography — top 60 of 112
Directing 48 credits
Pig Iron
Pig Iron
2010 · Director, Writer, Producer
Telemundo
Telemundo
2018 · Director, Producer, Himself
20 Little Films
20 Little Films
2012 · Director
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
1979 · Director, Writer
North on Evers
North on Evers
1992 · Director
Ten Skies
Ten Skies
2004 · Director, Producer
Eight Bridges
Eight Bridges
2026 · Director
YouTube Trilogy: 4 Songs, History, Asian Girls
YouTube Trilogy: 4 Songs, History, Asian Girls
2011 · Director
O Panama
O Panama
1985 · Director, Director of Photography, Sound
Faces
Faces
2011 · Director
RR
RR
2007 · Director
Landscape Suicide
Landscape Suicide
1987 · Director, Writer, Producer
Four Corners
Four Corners
1997 · Director, Narrator
The United States of America
The United States of America
2022 · Director, Writer
Ash 01
Ash 01
2016 · Director
11 x 14
11 x 14
1977 · Director, Writer, Producer
Twenty Cigarettes
Twenty Cigarettes
2011 · Director, Writer
Stemple Pass
Stemple Pass
2012 · Director, Producer, Ted Kaczynski (voice)
Little Boy
Little Boy
2025 · Director
Ruhr
Ruhr
2009 · Director, Writer, Editor
Two Cabins
Two Cabins
2011 · Director
Sogobi
Sogobi
2002 · Director
Nightfall
Nightfall
2012 · Director
Used Innocence
Used Innocence
1989 · Director, Writer, (voice)
Deseret
Deseret
1995 · Director
Panama: Exploring the Panama Canal
Panama: Exploring the Panama Canal
1995 · Director
The United States of America
The United States of America
1975 · Director
L. Cohen
L. Cohen
2018 · Director, Himself
Postscript
Postscript
2012 · Director
One Way Boogie Woogie
One Way Boogie Woogie
1977 · Director, Writer
Small Roads
Small Roads
2011 · Director
BNSF
BNSF
2013 · Director
American Dreams (Lost and Found)
American Dreams (Lost and Found)
1984 · Director
I-94
I-94
1974 · Director
Untitled Fragments
Untitled Fragments
2017 · Director
Two Moons
Two Moons
2019 · Director
Him and Me
Him and Me
1982 · Director
Casting a Glance
Casting a Glance
2007 · Director, Writer, Producer
Spring Equinox
Spring Equinox
2016 · Director
after Traylor. Thoreau cabin (2008-2018)
after Traylor. Thoreau cabin (2008-2018)
2018 · Director
El Valley Centro
El Valley Centro
2000 · Director
Fresh Air
Fresh Air
2016 · Director
One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later
One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later
2005 · Director
Readers
Readers
2017 · Director
74.78
74.78
2005 · Director
The War
The War
2012 · Director
Los
Los
2001 · Director
Allensworth
Allensworth
2022 · Director, Producer
Acting 12 credits
She Dies Tomorrow
She Dies Tomorrow
2020 · ★ 5.1 · Leatherman
Telemundo
Telemundo
2018 · Director, Producer, Himself
James Benning: Circling the Image
James Benning: Circling the Image
2003 · Himself
The Great Gatsby in Five Minutes
The Great Gatsby in Five Minutes
2011 · Owl Eyes
Benning's Dream
Benning's Dream
2021 · Self (voice)
Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater
Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater
2013 · Self
O Panama
O Panama
1985 · Director, Director of Photography, Sound
Four Corners
Four Corners
1997 · Director, Narrator
Stemple Pass
Stemple Pass
2012 · Director, Producer, Ted Kaczynski (voice)
Ruhr
Ruhr
2009 · Director, Writer, Editor
Used Innocence
Used Innocence
1989 · Director, Writer, (voice)
L. Cohen
L. Cohen
2018 · Director, Himself
Other credits 12 credits
Water Spell
Water Spell
2007 · Thanks
Pig Iron
Pig Iron
2010 · Director, Writer, Producer
Lunch Break
Lunch Break
2008 · Editor
O Panama
O Panama
1985 · Director, Director of Photography, Sound
Landscape Suicide
Landscape Suicide
1987 · Director, Writer, Producer
11 x 14
11 x 14
1977 · Director, Writer, Producer
Stemple Pass
Stemple Pass
2012 · Director, Producer, Ted Kaczynski (voice)
Forevermore: Biography of a Leach Lord
Forevermore: Biography of a Leach Lord
1989 · Thanks
Ruhr
Ruhr
2009 · Director, Writer, Editor
Santa Teresa & Other Stories
Santa Teresa & Other Stories
2015 · Thanks
The Wrecker Kings
The Wrecker Kings
2019 · Thanks
Casting a Glance
Casting a Glance
2007 · Director, Writer, Producer
Writing 12 credits
Pig Iron
Pig Iron
2010 · Director, Writer, Producer
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
1979 · Director, Writer
Adulthood
Adulthood
2026 · Writer
Landscape Suicide
Landscape Suicide
1987 · Director, Writer, Producer
The United States of America
The United States of America
2022 · Director, Writer
11 x 14
11 x 14
1977 · Director, Writer, Producer
Twenty Cigarettes
Twenty Cigarettes
2011 · Director, Writer
Ruhr
Ruhr
2009 · Director, Writer, Editor
Used Innocence
Used Innocence
1989 · Director, Writer, (voice)
One Way Boogie Woogie
One Way Boogie Woogie
1977 · Director, Writer
All That She Surveys
All That She Surveys
2012 · Writer
Casting a Glance
Casting a Glance
2007 · Director, Writer, Producer
Producing 8 credits
Pig Iron
Pig Iron
2010 · Director, Writer, Producer
Telemundo
Telemundo
2018 · Director, Producer, Himself
Ten Skies
Ten Skies
2004 · Director, Producer
Landscape Suicide
Landscape Suicide
1987 · Director, Writer, Producer
11 x 14
11 x 14
1977 · Director, Writer, Producer
Stemple Pass
Stemple Pass
2012 · Director, Producer, Ted Kaczynski (voice)
Casting a Glance
Casting a Glance
2007 · Director, Writer, Producer
Allensworth
Allensworth
2022 · Director, Producer
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