James Benning

WriterDirectorProducerActorCinematographer Dec 28 (age 83) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA 1971–2026 (55 year career)

6.2 avg rating

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 …

Known For

Film

She Dies Tomorrow

Leatherman

Film

RR

Director

Film

Landscape Suicide

Director

Film

Ten Skies

Director

Film

Small Roads

Director

Film

The United States of America

7.6 1975

Film

American Dreams (Lost and Found)

Director

Film

13 Lakes

Director

Filmography

Acting (17)

Movies (17)

Benning's Dream

2021

as Self (voice)

On Paradise Road

2020

She Dies Tomorrow

2020

as Leatherman

5.1

中孚 61. The Inner Truth

L. Cohen

as Himself

Telemundo

as Himself

thinking of red

Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater

as Self

Coming to Terms

as The Father

Stemple Pass

as Ted Kaczynski (voice)

7.5

The Great Gatsby in Five Minutes

2011

as Owl Eyes

James Benning: Circling the Image

2003

as Himself

Four Corners

as Narrator

Used Innocence

as (voice)

Forevermore: Biography of a Leach Lord

1989

4.2

The United States of America

1975

7.6

Maintenance

as Himself

3.0

Crew (143)

Movies (143)

Adulthood

2026

Writer

Eight Bridges

2026

Director

Little Boy

2025

Director

6.0

Cuba, an Historical Romance

2024

Director

Breathless

2024

Director

Exquisite Moving Corpse

2022

Director

TEN YEARS LATER

2022

Director

Allensworth

Director

Allensworth

Producer

The United States of America

2022

Director

5.5

The United States of America

2022

Writer

5.5

From Bakersfield to Mojave

2021

Director

In Process...

2021

Director

Dancing in the Street, 11 grados de separación

2020

Director

Maggie's Farm

2020

Director

Maggie's Farm

2020

Director of Photography

Maggie's Farm

2020

Editor

Maggie's Farm

2020

Writer

On Paradise Road

2020

Director

PLACE

2020

Director

The Wrecker Kings

2019

Thanks

Two Moons

2019

Director

5.0

daylight

2019

Director

Birth of a Nation

2018

Director

after Traylor. Thoreau cabin (2008-2018)

2018

Director

L. Cohen

2018

Director

5.2

SAM

2018

Director

Telemundo

Director

Telemundo

Producer

glory

Director

Readers

Director

Untitled Fragments

Director

thinking of red

2016

Director

Measuring Change

2016

Director

5.7

wavelength

2016

Director

Ash 01

2016

Director

Fall Equinox

Director

Spring Equinox

Director

scorched earth

Director

Fresh Air

2016

Director

Santa Teresa & Other Stories

2015

Thanks

5.4

52 Films

2015

Director

Perimeter

2015

Director

signs

2014

Director

US 41

2014

Director

Concord Woods

Director

Director

Natural History

Director

FUCK ME (orange)

Director

FUCK ME (green)

2014

Director

BNSF

Director

Easy Rider

Director

Easy Rider

Director of Photography

Easy Rider

Editor

Easy Rider

Producer

Easy Rider

Writer

Stemple Pass

Director

Stemple Pass

Director of Photography

Stemple Pass

Editor

Stemple Pass

Producer

One Way Boogie Woogie

2012

Director

7.5

All That She Surveys

2012

Writer

The War

Director

Nightfall

Director

20 Little Films

Director

Postscript

Director

Small Roads

Director

Two Cabins

Director

YouTube Trilogy: 4 Songs, History, Asian Girls

2011

Director

5.7

Faces

2011

Director

Twenty Cigarettes

Director

Twenty Cigarettes

Writer

After Warhol

Director

Faces 1973

Director

Tulare Road

Director

Among Enemies: Jeonju Digital Project 2010

2010

Director

Reforming the Past

2010

Director

Pig Iron

2010

Director

7.2

Pig Iron

2010

Director of Photography

Pig Iron

Producer

Pig Iron

Writer

John Krieg Exiting the Falk Corporation in 1971

2010

Director

Ruhr

2009

Director

6.6

Ruhr

2009

Director of Photography

Ruhr

Editor

Ruhr

Sound Editor

Ruhr

Writer

Lunch Break

Editor

Water Spell

Thanks

Casting a Glance

Director

Casting a Glance

Director of Photography

Casting a Glance

Editor

Casting a Glance

Producer

Casting a Glance

Writer

Director

One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later

2005

Director

6.3

74.78

2005

Director

Ten Skies

Director

Ten Skies

Producer

13 Lakes

Director

Sogobi

Director

Los

Director

El Valley Centro

Director

Utopia

Director

Four Corners

Director

Deseret

Director

Panama: Exploring the Panama Canal

1995

Director

North on Evers

Director

Used Innocence

Director

Used Innocence

Writer

Forevermore: Biography of a Leach Lord

1989

Thanks

4.2

TABLE TOP

1988

Director

Landscape Suicide

1987

Director

7.3

Landscape Suicide

1987

Director of Photography

Landscape Suicide

Editor

Landscape Suicide

Producer

Landscape Suicide

Writer

O Panama

Director

O Panama

Director of Photography

O Panama

Editor

O Panama

Sound

American Dreams (Lost and Found)

1984

Director

7.2

Pascal's Lemma

1984

Director

Him and Me

1982

Director

Grand Opera: An Historical Romance

1979

Director

7.2

Grand Opera: An Historical Romance

1979

Writer

7.2

One Way Boogie Woogie

1977

Director

5.8

One Way Boogie Woogie

Writer

11 x 14

Director

11 x 14

Director of Photography

11 x 14

Editor

11 x 14

Producer

11 x 14

Writer

Chicago Loop

Director

9-1-75

1975

Director

3 Minutes on the Dangers of Film Recording

1975

Director

The United States of America

Director

I-94

Director

8½ x 11

Director

Michigan Avenue

1974

Director

4.8

Time and a Half

1972

Director

Did You Ever Hear That Cricket Sound?

1971

Director

Two Skies

Director