James Benning

James Benning (b. 1942, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is one of the most original directors of experimental film. He studied mathematics while on a baseball scholarship. He taught the children of migrant workers in Colorado to read and write. He later helped start a commodities food programme that fed the poor in the Missouri Ozarks. He taught film at university for four years and, in 1980, he moved to Lower Manhattan and began making films with financial aid from German television. After eight years in New York he moved to Val Verde in California, where he currently teaches film and video at California Institute of the Arts. His films are regularly screened in Berlin’s Forum section: 13 Lakes (2004), Twenty Cigarettes (2011) and also his latest film Stemple Pass.

48. MFF Karlovy Vary