Platform for experimental and anthropological film,
sound, and landscape cinema.
sound, and landscape cinema.
People
James Benning
James Benning (born 1942) is an American independent filmmaker and educator. In the 60s he dropped out of graduate school to forfeit his military deferment since his friends, who were mostly not in school, were being drafted in Vietnam. He instead joined the War on Poverty, teaching children of migrant workers in Colorado how to read and write, and helping to start a commodities food program that fed people living in poverty in the Missouri Ozarks. Benning often uses this background as part of his film work. 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.