

Landscape cinema titan James Benning invites us to contemplate Black history as he turns his structuralist lens on the first African American municipality in California.
Founded in 1908, the town of Allensworth was the first in California to be established and governed exclusively by African Americans. It’s now largely abandoned, and its ghostly facades and surrounding rural landscape form the subjects of the latest formal meditation by Benning, who – almost as a coda to last year’s sprawling interrogation of his homeland, The United States of America (MIFF 2022) – surveys the locale through 12 static five-minute shots, covering a year from January to December.
Rendered in the master filmmaker’s singular, contemplative style, Allensworth lingers on trees in empty fields, unmarked graves and buildings that seem unstuck in time, each resonating with echoes of the past. As it does, Benning teases historical details – Nina Simone’s ‘Blackbird’, Lead Belly’s ‘In the Pines’, a young girl reading Lucille Clifton poems – that draw out the town’s wider social context while gradually revealing the film’s artifice in his trademark fashion. Awarded a Feature Film Jury Special Mention at this year’s Cinéma du Réel, Allensworth draws the audience into its reflective trance as it invites us to observe with both temporal distance and proximity.
Powerfully unveils Benning’s underlying intention to convey a forgotten microhistory and its deeper connections to a larger – and ongoing – struggle.
When
See below for additional related events
Tickets
Get ticketsDuration
65 mins
Rating
Unclassified (15+)
$15 exhibition entry for MIFF ticketholders
Goddess: Power, Glamour, Rebellion
Never-before-seen costumes, original sketches, interactive experiences and cinematic treasures from the icons of the silent era to classic Hollywood heroines and the stars of Bollywood blockbusters.
Show your MIFF ticket at ACMI’s welcome desk to receive this special discount or book online with code MIFF15.

Looking for dining options?
Our restaurant, bar and cafe in the heart of Fed Square features a seasonally driven menu developed by acclaimed Melbourne chef Karen Martini.

ACMI Shop
Melbourne's favourite shop dedicated to all things moving image. Every purchase supports your museum of screen culture.

Plan your visit
Visitor guidelines, information on accessibility, amenities, transport, dining options and more.