North on Evers

"From there I went to Austin. I stayed with three friends and found an old Life magazine at their home. It was from 1966. The cover story was about Charles Whitman. A map marked the spots where he had picked off his victims from the University tower. I followed it down Guadalupe Street ..."

-- excerpt from the handwritten text that moves across the bottom of the frame of
James Benning's North on Evers

James Benning is one of our country's top avant-garde filmmakers of the last 20 years. Working outside traditional narrative modes, his films draw us into new forms of storytelling via his unique cinematic language of sound, image, and printed information. Always lurking around in the dark recesses of the American Dream, they are personal and painterly journeys through the American landscape. James is one of my filmmaking heroes, an independent artist in the purest sense of the word.

After this screening, which James really wanted to be here for because D. Montgomery was a friend of his who can also be glimpsed in the Austin segment of North on Evers, the first recipient of the D. Montgomery Award will be announced. This is to be an annual award ($2,500 this year) given, via the Austin Film Society and a group of D.'s friends, to a local multi-disciplinary media artist.

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North on Evers will have its Austin premiere Monday, Nov. 9, 7pm, at the Texas Union Theatre. James Benning will be on hand for a discussion afterward and the first recipient of the D. Montgomery Award will be announced. Admission is free.