James Benning is one of the most widely praised of American avant-garde filmmakers. His films explore new narrative techniques through a painterly use of cinematic space recalling his own work in pop and minimalist painting. All deal in some way with the American experience; 11 x 14 for instance, is a study of the Midwestern landscape, while Him and Me recalls the filmmaker's life from the fifties to the eighties in terms of both public and private events.

8-1/2 x 11
Benning's award-winning 1974 film 8-1/2 x 11 is an avant-garde road movie in which two stories run parallel and then converge among the cars, landscapes and fast-food outlets of the American highway. Benning describes the film as “a minimal narrative film, where the narrative suggests a structure, and the structure becomes the film. An attempt at bringing the background to the frontground....”