Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater

A documentary portrait of the friendship between the renowned filmmakers James Benning and Richard Linklater that combines filmed conversations and extensive archival material to explore connections and divergences in their respective approaches to life and cinema. “At a certain point in DOUBLE PLAY, Benning suggests that duration in cinema reveals meaning. This is apparent, though manifested differently, in both Benning’s and Linklater’s films. In Benning, there’s on-screen duration – shots that can last anywhere from seconds to hours. In Linklater, duration occurs most interestingly between films, e.g. the BEFORE trilogy. The latter idea also exists in Benning’s remakes of his and others’ works. Cinema can make time explicit or invisible or ambiguous. In our lives, however, time only moves one way. DOUBLE PLAY explores the marks of time, of duration, not only in Benning and Linklater’s respective filmic bodies, but also in their friendship and lives.” (Gabe Klinger)

In the presence of Gabe Klinger and James Benning.