El Valley Centro

The documentary takes up the Central Valley of California. The work is an experimental film. It is made up of thirty five shots. Each shot runs exactly two and a half minutes. The camera does not move but stands still. The filming was done on sixteen millimetre stock. The focus is held fixed as well. There is no narrator and no music. The images are left on their own. According to the film, nature lies under the pressure of commercial interests. That reading is the work’s own. The account moves quietly and slowly. The film is the first part of James Benning’s California trilogy. The other two parts take up greater Los Angeles and the wilderness of the state. The work was shown at Sundance in 2000, and the American documentary runs eighty seven minutes.