Highlights

El Valley Centro (2000)

Movie
Audience Score
72
El Valley Centro
PG 1 hr 27 minMar 27th, 2000DocumentaryCalifornia Trilogy PosterPart of California Trilogy
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Experimental filmmaker James Benning returns with this abstract documentary about California's Central Valley, part 1 of his "California Trilogy". Consisting of 35 shots, each over two minutes long, the film quietly portrays nature's subjugation to encroaching commercial interests. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.
DirectorJames Benning

Movie Details

Theatrical Release:March 27th, 2000
Original Language:English

California Trilogy

Produced at the junction of two millennia, the California Trilogy is James Benning's three-part topographical study of America's "Golden State". Looking to the past while investigating the present, the mathematician-turned-filmmaker condenses three distinct Californian landscapes into a total of 105 shots, each exactly 2½ minutes long. Formal restraint and compositional precision combine with ambient sound and an unheard social commentary to create a hypnotic journey across the 31st US State; from the Great Central Valley (El Valley Centro) through greater Los Angeles (Los) to the Californian wilderness (Sogobi).