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TEN SKIES

June 16, 2021

TEN SKIES

(Dir. James Benning, 2004)

L.A. launch of Erika Balsom's new book on TEN SKIES.
James Benning in person!

DOORS 

7:00PM

SCREENING

7:30PM

LOCATION

Dynasty Typewriter at the Hayworth
2511 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Yanai Initiative logo_edited.jpg
Yanai Initiative logo_edited.jpg

Filmed  around Val Verde, California, this series of skyscapes gracefully  visualizes human civilization’s interaction with, and impact on, the  landscape. The skies and cloud formations chosen by Benning are affected  by pollution from an industrial factory, jet trails, and smoke from an  accidental wildfire, all clearly legible upon the firmament. And yet,  despite these ominous environmental undercurrents, Benning conceived TEN SKIES as  an anti-war film, describing his work to be “about the antithesis of  war, [about] the kind of beauty we’re destroying.” This intention is  affirmed in the reflective serenity of his images; the varying tones,  textures and colors of the atmosphere, and the shifting transformations  of billowing clouds that produce astonishing perceptual revelations  about scale, ephemerality, and the cinematic frame.


Film to be projected on 16mm.


Copies of the book TEN SKIES, including a limited number signed by James Benning, will be available to purchase after the screening.

NOTE:  *PROOF OF FULL VACCINATION OR A NEGATIVE COVID-19 TEST WITHIN 48 HOURS  OF THE SHOW IS REQUIRED UPON ENTRY. NAME ON VACCINATION CARD MUST MATCH YOUR ID.*

A mesmerizing study in time, light, movement, and. moisture.

- Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Evoke[s] primeval cinema with a power that I wouldn’t have thought still possible.

- J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

James Benning’s movies show me how to look, and confirm the way I want to see. To regard a sky after seeing TEN SKIES is to be versed in the absorbing drama of subtle events.

- Rachel Kushner, Author

One  of this unique filmmaker's greatest works, and on paper, one of his  most minimalist: ten shots of the sky, each lasting ten minutes. But the  experience of watching – and hearing – it is fabulously rich and  intense. The skyscapes are filled with life and change at the speed of  light. The soundtrack creates an equally rich narrative space by way of  ten short stories that are 'insinuated' without ever being 'explained.' A  masterpiece.

- Alexander Horwath, Film Comment

(Available to download after screening date)

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