Eleven by Fourteen

“When I made 11 x 14, finally I thought I had something to say: I think that’s when I really became a filmmaker.” (James Benning) Benning’s first feature-length work presents miniature narratives: brief black-and-white film sequences, in which various characters meet and part ways in urban landscapes and apartments, embark alone on elevated train rides, and travel together through rural America, are punctuated alongside precisely framed images of gas stations and billboards. 11 x 14 unmistakably reflects Benning’s later films: depictions of landscape x depictions of structure.