For 40 years, James Benning has been a singular, defiant voice in the American independent film scene. This 2-disc set the first in a planned series devoted to the filmmaker's oeuvre features two of Benning's seminal works from the mid-1980s for the first time ever on DVD: American Dreams (lost and found) is the filmmaker's personal take on the history of the USA from 1954 to 1976, told through a complex and thought provoking amalgamation of image, text and sound. In Landscape Suicide, he effortlessly strides the boundaries of narrative and documentary forms as he recounts two infamous murder cases that took place almost 30 years apart.
The Films
American Dreams (lost and found) - USA 1984 - Directed, written, photographed, edited and produced by: James Benning - Premiere: February 19, 1984 (Film Forum, New York)
Landscape Suicide - USA 1986 - Directed, written, photographed, edited and produced by: James Benning - Cast: Rhonda Bell, Elion Sacker, Eve E. Ellis, Lisbeth Jetton, Pegge Winslow, John Benning, Rusty Johnson - Premiere: October 4, 1984 (Minneapolis)
DVD features (2-disc DVD)
DVD 1
- American Dreams (lost and found) 1984, 53'
- 20 page bilingual booklet
DVD 2
- Landscape Suicide 1986, 92'
Edited by: Österreichisches Filmmuseum Vienna
DVD authoring: Ralph Schermbach
DVD supervision: Oliver Hanley, Michael Loebenstein
First Edition October 2011
