James Benning - The California Trilogy

El Valley Centro - USA 1999 - Directed, written, photographed, edited and produced by: James Benning - Premiere: January 22, 2000, Sundance Film Festival

Los - USA 2000 - Directed, written, photographed, edited and produced by: James Benning - Premiere: October 26, 2001, Viennale

Sogobi - USA 2000 - Directed, written, photographed, edited and produced by: James Benning - Premiere: February 7, 2002, Berlinale

Edited by: Österreichisches Filmmuseum Vienna
DVD authoring: Ralph Schermbach
DVD supervision: Oliver Hanley

First Edition December 2012

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.

DVD 1

• El Valley Centro 1999, 87min
• Los 2000, 87min

DVD 2

• Sogobi 2001, 87min
• 16 page bilingual booklet