GME is proud to announce our unprecedented release of the 7th digital edition of the films of James Benning, comprising O PANAMA (1985) and GRAND OPERA. AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE (1979).  Altogether, GME now offers a total of 16 feature length films (and one short form work) by this renowned independent American auteur.  We make all of these films available (either as DVDs or DVD/DSL bundles) exclusively to North American academic institutions so as to afford professors, librarians, students and researchers an in-depth study of the arc of this noteworthy artist’s career, from 11x14 (1977) to NATURAL HISTORY (2014).  About his filmmaking oeuvre, Benning has observed, that “since I started making films, I’ve always tried to open a new narrative space from the juxtaposition of sound and image, or text and image — how the spectator experiences them, how they quote each other.”  Benning’s films are carefully planned in terms of the placement of the camera, the duration of the individual extended takes, and the juxtaposition of shots, creating mesmerizing contemplations of both the natural and manmade world.