James Benning's film Deseret explores the founding of the New York Times in 1851 through a series of stationary camera shots capturing Utah's landscapes throughout the year. The film's stark compositions evoke a space haunted by the official history written back East. Benning used a different shot to illustrate each of 93 stories about Utah, with the footage transitioning from black and white to color around 1900. The stories told recount the loss of American innocence, including the struggles of the Mormons, Indians, and the state's path to becoming a nuclear testing ground.
Deseret
A cinematic exploration of Utah's storied past unfolds, set against a backdrop of awe-inspiring landscapes and accompanied by insightful commentary from The New York Times, tracing the state's development from the 1850s to the 1990s.
