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Produced at the junction of two millennia, the California Trilogy is James Benning's three-part topographical study of America's «Golden State». Looking to the past while investigating the present, the mathematician-turned-filmmaker condenses three distinct Californian landscapes into a total of 105 shots, each exactly 2½ minutes long. Formal restraint and compositional precision combine with ambient sound and an unheard social commentary to create a hypnotic journey across the 31st US State; from the Great Central Valley (El Valley Centro) through greater Los Angeles (Los) to the Californian wilderness (Sogobi). This 2-disc set presents the complete California Trilogy for the first time ever on DVD. El Valley Centro, USA 1999, directed by James Benning (87') Los, USA 2000, directed by James Benning (87') Sogobi, USA 2001, directed by James Benning (87') 16 page bilingual booklet
- Number of Movies: 3
- Revenue: -
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December 5, 1999
Experimental filmmaker James Benning returns with this abstract documentary about California's Central Valley, part 1 of his "California Trilogy". Consisting of 35 shots, each over two minutes long, the film quietly portrays nature's subjugation to encroaching commercial interests. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.
February 26, 2001
Los Angeles is depicted in 35 stationary shots, each 2 1/2 minutes long, in this non-narrative film, part 2 of Benning's "California Trilogy".
January 12, 2002
Many films by this master of landscape cinema are cinematic studies of specific landscapes, as is the case with SOGOBI – the Shoshonean word for "Earth" –, part 3 of Benning's "California Trilogy" and his approach to the Californian wilderness in 35 carefully composed scenes with a great depth of field and devoid of humans. "I spent a year in the middle of nowhere and perhaps this is the closest I've come to portraying a true sense of place." (James Benning)