Benny’s Video

Friday, May 8 - Saturday, May 9, 2026

Michael Haneke turns the unflinching gaze of the camera back on itself in this provocative, profoundly disturbing study of emotional disconnection in the age of mass-media saturation. Benny (a frighteningly affectless Arno Frisch), the teenage son of wealthy, disengaged parents, finds release in the world of violent videos—an obsession that leads him to create his own monstrous work of real-life horror. Layering screens within screens and frames within the filmic frame, BENNY’S VIDEO is a coolly postmodern, metacinematic labyrinth in which the boundaries between actual and mediated violence become terrifyingly indistinguishable.

  • Country Austria
  • Language German with English subtitles
  • Year 1992
  • Running Time 110 minutes
  • Format DCP
  • Distributor Janus
  • Director Michael Haneke
  • Cast Arno Frisch, Angela Winkler, Ulrich Mühe

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.