Presented in conjunction with UC Berkeley’s Graduate Film Working Group Lecture Series. Benning will give a talk called ‘Dividing by Zero’ on March 11, at 2 pm in Dwinelle Hall 142.

With a mathematician’s love of formalism, a painter’s eye, and an inimitable wit, James Benning has been making structurally elegant, visually eloquent films exploring the psychic and material histories of American landscapes for three decades.One Way Boogie Woogie is Benning’s second feature, filmed in Milwaukee’s industrial valley in 1977- sixty shots, each one minute long, filled with games, jokes, and the exuberance of youth. In the summer of 2004 he re-made the film with the same 60 locations and the same people. In 27 Years Later, the games and jokes take on new meaning with the passing of time and age. (Irina Leimbacher)