Since the late 1970s, James Benning's films have been a regular fixture at festivals in Germany and Austria, while frequent television broadcasts have helped expose his work to an even larger audience here than perhaps at home. This 2-disc set presents the products of this intercontinental relationship: Ruhr, Benning's first foray into digital filmmaking, is a modern-day "city symphony" dedicated to Germany's industrial Ruhr district. His latest work, natural history, is an audiovisual portrait commissioned by Vienna's Natural History Museum. Reinhard Wulf's feature-length documentary James Benning: Circling the Image, produced for German television, rounds off the set.

The Films - Ruhr - Germany 2009 - Directed, written, photographed, edited and produced by: James Benning - Premiere: November 2, 2009 (Duisburger Filmwoche) - Fire & Rain - Austria 2009 - Directed, written, photographed, edited and produced by: James Benning - Premiere: October 26, 2009 (Viennale) - natural history - Austria 2014 - Directed, written, photographed, edited and produced by: James Benning - Premiere: September 26, 2014 (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) - James Benning: Circling the Image - Germany 2003 - Directed and written by: Reinhard Wulf - Photographed by: Jürgen Behrens - Edited by: Susanne Schweinheim - Premiere: October 22, 2003 (Viennale)

DVD features (2-disc DVD) DVD 1 - Ruhr 2009, 122' - Fire & Rain 2009, 1' 28 page bilingual booklet DVD 2 - natural history 2014, 77' - James Benning: Circling the Image 2003, 84'

Edited by: Österreichisches Filmmuseum Vienna DVD authoring: Tobias Dressel DVD supervision: Oliver Hanley