A living legend of avant-garde film, James Benning is the first director who returns to BIFF with his new film after last year's fan favourite phenomenon of the festival, Breathless. This time, he provides an insight into the past hundred years of the history of his native country, the United States, using selected contemplative tools, such as music and audio recordings from the period, and the assembly of building models that frame the changes in American industry. As usual, Benning has once again made a purely political film with little boy, sensitively reacting to the current exercise of power and the drastic decline in the level of public conditions and public discourse.

Berlinale 2025 - Forum
IndieLisboa 2025 - Silvestre Award Best Feature Film
Cinéma du réel 2025 - Grand Prix

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Making the first of his avant-garde works in 1972, James Benning shortly thereafter started to produce longer experimental films. Between 1978 and 1985 he realized numerous projection and computer installations. From 1977 to 1980 he taught at the Universities of California and Oklahoma. Since the end of the 1980s, he has lived in Val Verde, near Los Angeles. He teaches at the California Institute of the Arts where, through his works, he continues to greatly influence younger generations of artists.

11 x 14 (1977)
American Dreams (1984)
Landscape Suicide (1986)
TEN SKIES (2004)
The United States of America (2021)
Breathless (2024)

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Director: James Benning
Cast: Alessandro Streccioni, Nathan Meier, Johnan Jahromi, Nelson De Los Santos, Yuan Gao, Yusef Ferguson, Calum Walter, James Benning
Hungarian Distributor: -
Colour: colour
min: 74 mins

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