Country: USA
Year: 2011
Duration: 99'
Twenty people smoke a cigarette; some smoke it slowly, letting the action spread out over time, others smoke it more nervously and quickly. Some give the motions of the hand and lips a touch of sensuality. But they all let themselves be transported by the activity of smoking to tell their own story. The room in the background becomes unimportant, it is neutral with respect to the stories which emerge of men and women: famous people such as the photographer Sharon Lockhart, and perfect strangers, all sharing a gesture that can be slow or fast, but is always revealing. “In my film, RR, I collaborated with the trains that I filmed; each train – by its speed and length – determined the duration of its own portrait. In Twenty Cigarettes I now team up with each smoker to produce twenty different portraits of varying lengths and intensity.”
Biography
film director
James Benning
James Benning (Milwaukee, WI, USA, 1942) started directing short films in 1972, after which he studied cinematography at the University of Wisconsin, where he continued his directing career, also making experimental films. Between 1978 and 1985 he made numerous video projections and multimedia installations, and he taught at various universities between 1977 and 1980, before moving to New York. He has also taught at the California Institute of the Arts.
FILMOGRAFIA
filmografia essenziale/essential filmography
81⁄2 x 11 (cm, 1974), 11 x 14 (1977), One Way Boogie Woogie (1978), Grand Opera (1979), Him and Me (1981), American Dreams (doc., 1983), O Panama (cm, 1985), Landscape Suicide (1986) Used Innocence (doc., 1988), North on Evers (1991), Deseret (doc., 1995), Four Corners (doc., 1997), El Valley Centro (doc., 2000), Sogobi (doc., 2002), 13 Lakes (doc., 2004), Ten Skies (doc., 2004), One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later (doc., 2005), RR (doc., 2007), Ruhr (doc., 2009), Twenty Cigarettes (doc., 2011).
Cast
& Credits
regia, produttore/director, producer
James Benning
