THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2022) with filmmaker James Benning in person

James Benning’s filmmaking has been synonymous with the automotive vision of the American landscape since at least 1975, when, in partnership with fellow filmmaker Bette Gordon, he embarked on two cross-country road trips, filmed with a 16mm camera from the back seat. That film, entitled THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (1975), furnished Benning with a map for much of his future work charting the country’s geographic and cultural terrain. Benning revisited the theme in 2022 with another UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, this time purporting to capture each of the country’s 52 states (plus Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic), from A to W, by way of one static 2-minute shot, captured in the course of the director’s many travels. Combining Benning’s unerring eye for composition with fragments of popular song, civil discourse, and location sound on the soundtrack, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2022) surveys a country ill-at-ease (or perhaps just ill—the film was conceived in response to the COVID-19 pandemic) and a land burdened by history, industry, and a lingering suspicion that we’ve been here (wherever that is, exactly) before.

Following the screening of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2022), Benning will appear in person for a discussion and audience Q&A.

The Block Museum is proud to partner with the MFA in Documentary Media, the Department of Radio, Television, and Film, and the School of Communications at Northwestern to welcome James Benning as a 2025 Hoffman Visiting Artist for Documentary Media.

Host or Publisher The Block Museum of Art