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Maggie’s Farm

Forum 2020
© James Benning, 2019. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin
A portrait of an art institution as a cinematic landscape: in a succession of static shots, James Benning explores the buildings and terrain of the California Institute of the Arts, where he teaches. A series of views of nature filmed in the surrounding park and woods transitions into images of floors, seating areas and other details of a public building not meant for show. In both parts, an uncanny feeling dominates: the geometries of nature, the dark green and brown tones, the rushing of the highway in the background on the one hand and the humming of halogen lamps, the sound of steps in an otherwise seemingly empty school on the other – it all seems to be hiding a secret. The camera’s gaze is almost always restricted; it rarely penetrates very far into the image. It discovers shabby corners, observing scenarios more reminiscent of a mystery novel than the campus of an art institution. More so than in the majority of James Benning’s longer works of recent years, a narrative lies concealed within the images; every shot creates an urge to move forward, a tension, almost as if the landscapes and interiors were the scenes of a crime.
by James Benning (Director) USA 2020 Without dialogue 84' Colour World premiere | Documentary form

Crew

Director James Benning
Producer James Benning

Produced by

James Benning

James Benning

© Sharon-Lockhart

Born in 1942 in Milwaukee, USA, James Benning completed a degree in film studies in the 1970s and has been making films and creating numerous installations since 1972. Benning has been a frequent guest at the Forum and Forum Expanded since 1977, most recently with Allensworth in 2022.

Filmography (selection)

1977 11 x 14; 83 min., Berlinale Forum 1977 & 2018 1983 American Dreams (lost and found); 56 min. 1986 Landscape Suicide; 95 min., Berlinale Forum 1987 1997 Four Corners; 80 min., Berlinale Forum 1998 2000 Los; 90 min., Berlinale Forum 2002 2002 Sogobi; 90 min., Berlinale Forum 2002 2004 13 Lakes; 133 min., Berlinale Forum 2005 · Ten Skies; 101 min., Berlinale Forum 2005 2005 One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later; 120 min., Berlinale Forum 2006 2007 RR; 110 min., Berlinale Forum 2008 2009 Ruhr; 121 min. 2010 John Krieg Exiting the Falk Corporation in 1971; 71 min. 2011 Faces; 135 min. · Milwaukee/Duisburg; installation, Berlinale Forum Expanded 2011 · Twenty Cigarettes; 99 min., Berlinale Forum 2011 · Small Roads; 103 min. 2012 Nightfall; 98 min. · Stemple Pass; 121 min., Berlinale Forum 2013 · Easy Rider; 95 min. · One Way Boogie Woogie 2012; 90 min. · BNSF; 194 min. 2014 Natural History; 77 min. · Farocki; 77 min. · Concord Woods; 121 min. 2015 American Dreams; 85 min. 2017 Untitled Fragments; 75 min., video installation, Berlinale Forum Expanded 2017 2018 L. Cohen; 45 min., video installation, Berlinale Forum Expanded 2018 2019 Maggie’s Farm; 84 min., Berlinale Forum 2022 United States of America; 98 min., Berlinale Forum · Allensworth; 65 min. 2025 little boy

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025