Eight Bridges

Italian Futurism celebrated noise, machinery, speed... and fascism. James Benning’s latest film turns its attention to eight bridges scattered across the United States. These are bridges crossed by people, but above all by an unending stream of vehicles of every kind: a portrait of a country that reveres speed, thrives on noise, sanctifies private transportation and perhaps, as in the age of Futurism, echoes ideologies we believed long behind us. As in all of Benning’s work, this observational portrayal of American spaces—shot in fixed, unbroken takes—goes far beyond mere landscape contemplation. There is certainly landscape—shifting light, clouds and wind, water and reflections—paired with a soundtrack that feels incidental, yet is anything but. But beneath these surfaces lies something deeper: a look at a nation that has always embraced movement as a defining characteristic. A country crisscrossed by vast structures spanning rivers, lakes and canyons—symbols of humanity’s desire to master nature and the constant flow of people and goods, indistinguishable from one another in capitalist logic. “Look and listen,” Benning insists in his classes at CalArts. His films suggest we do the same—to perceive what lies beyond the obvious. (Gonzalo de Pedro Amatria)

In the presence of James Benning.

James Benning (selection): ONE WAY BOOGIE WOOGIE (1977), LANDSCAPE SUICIDE (1986), UTOPIA (1998), EL VALLEY CENTRO (1999), LOS (2000), SOGOBI (2002), 13 LAKES (2004), TEN SKIES (2004), ONE WAY BOOGIE WOOGIE/27 YEARS LATER (2005), CASTING A GLANCE (2007), RR (2007), FIRE & RAIN (2009, V’09-TRAILER), ONE WAY BOOGIE WOOGIE 2012 (2012), EASY RIDER (2012), NATURAL HISTORY (2014), MEASURING CHANGE (2016), FALL EQUINOX (2016), READERS (2017), L. COHEN (2018), MAGGIE’S FARM (2020), ON PARADISE ROAD (2020), THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2022), ALLENSWORTH (2023), BREATHLESS (2024), LITTLE BOY (2025)