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D. A. Pennebaker

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Donn Alan Pennebaker(/ˈpɛniːbeɪkər/;July 15, 1925 – August 1, 2019) was an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers ofdirect cinema.Performing artsand politics were his primary subjects. In 2013, theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciencesrecognized his body of work with anAcademy Honorary Award.[1]Pennebaker was called byThe Independentas "arguably the pre-eminent chronicler ofSixties counterculture".[2]

D. A. Pennebaker
Pennebaker in New York City in February 2007
Born
Donn Alan Pennebaker

(1925-07-15)July 15, 1925
Evanston, Illinois,U.S.
DiedAugust 1, 2019(2019-08-01)(aged 94)
Sag Harbor, New York,U.S.
Alma materYale University
Occupation(s)Documentarian, author
Years active1953–2019
Spouse
​
(m.1982)​
Websitewww.phfilms.com

He received anAcademy Award for Best Documentary Featurenomination forThe War Room(1993). He is also known for directing documentaries such asDont Look Back(1967),Monterey Pop(1968),Original Cast Album: Company(1971),Eat the Document(1972),Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars(1979),Jimi Plays Monterey(1986),Elaine Stritch: At Liberty(2004), andKings of Pastry(2009).

Early life and education

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Pennebaker (known as "Penny" to his friends) was born inEvanston, Illinois,the son of Lucille Levick (née Deemer) and John Paul Pennebaker, who was a commercial photographer.[3][4]Pennebaker served in the Navy duringWorld War II.[5]He then studied engineering atYaleand later worked as an engineer, founding Electronics Engineering (the makers of the first computerized airline reservation system) before beginning his film career.[6]

Career

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1953–1960

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After falling under the influence of experimental filmmakerFrancis Thompson,Pennebaker directed his first film,Daybreak Express,in 1953. Set to a classicDuke Ellingtonrecording of the same name, the five-minute short features a shadowy montage of the soon-to-be-demolishedThird Avenue elevated subwayin New York City.[7] It was released in 1958. According to Pennebaker, Ellington responded favourably to the film.[8]

In 1959, Pennebaker joined the equipment-sharing Filmakers’ Co-op and co-founded Drew Associates withRichard Leacockand formerLIFEmagazine editor and correspondentRobert Drew.A crucial moment in the development of direct cinema, the collective produced documentary films for clients likeABC News(for their television series,Close-up) andTime-LifeBroadcast (for their syndicated television series,Living Camera). Their first major film,Primary(1960), documentedJohn F. KennedyandHubert Humphrey's respective campaigns in the 1960WisconsinDemocratic Primary election. Drew, Leacock and Pennebaker, as well as photographersAlbert Maysles,Terrence McCartney Filgate and Bill Knoll, all filmed the campaigning from dawn to midnight over the course of five days. Widely considered to be the first candid and comprehensive look at the day-by-day events of a Presidential race, it was the first film in which the sync sound camera could move freely with characters throughout a breaking story, a major technical achievement that laid the groundwork for modern-day documentary filmmaking. It would later be selected as an historic American film for inclusion in theLibrary of Congress'National Film Registryin 1990.[9]

1963–1968

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Drew Associates would produce nine more documentaries forLiving Camera,includingCrisis,which chronicled President Kennedy and Attorney GeneralRobert F. Kennedy's conflict with governorGeorge Wallaceover schooldesegregation.Then in 1963, Pennebaker and Leacock left the organization to form their own production firm, Leacock-Pennebaker, Inc. Pennebaker would direct a number of short films over the course of two years. One of them was a rare recording of jazz vocalistDave Lambertas he formed a new quintet with singers such asDavid Lucasand auditioned forRCA.The audition was not successful, and Lambert died suddenly in a car accident shortly thereafter, leaving Pennebaker's film as one of the few visual recordings of the singer, and the only recording of the songs in those rehearsals. The documentary got attention in Europe,[10][11]and a few weeks later,Bob Dylan's managerAlbert Grossmanapproached Pennebaker about filming Dylan while he was touring in England.[12]The resulting workDont Look Back(there is no apostrophe in the title) became a landmark in both film and rock history, "evoking the '60s like few other documents", according to film criticJonathan Rosenbaum.[13]The opening sequence alone (set to Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" with Dylan standing in an alleyway, dropping cardboard flash cards) became a precursor to modern music videos.[14]It was even used as the theatrical trailer.[15]It would later be included in theLibrary of Congress'National Film Registryin 1998, and it was later ranked at No. 6 onTime Out's list of the 50 best documentaries of all time.[16]

Pennebaker would also filmDylan's subsequent tour of England in 1966,but while some of this work has been released in different forms (supplying the framework forMartin Scorsese's Dylan documentaryNo Direction Homeand re-edited by Dylan himself in the rarely distributedEat the Document), Pennebaker's own film of the tour (Something Is Happening) remains unreleased. Nevertheless, the tour itself has become one of the most celebrated events in rock history, and some of theNagrarecordings made for Pennebaker's film were later released on Dylan's own records. All of the Nagra recordings made during the 1966 European appearances were made byRichard Alderson,who, for years, never received recognition. All of his tapes are what comprise the 36-CD box setBob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings,released in 2016. It is Alderson who notes that many of the UK concerts were, in fact, filmed byHoward Alk.

The same yearDont Look Backwas released in theaters, Pennebaker worked with authorNorman Mailer(who would later appear in 1979'sTown Bloody Hall[17]) on the first of many film collaborations. He was also hired to film theMonterey Pop Festival,which is now regarded as an important event in rock history on par with 1969'sWoodstock Festival.Pennebaker produced a number of films from the event, capturing breakthrough performances fromthe Jimi Hendrix Experience,Otis ReddingandJanis Joplinthat remain seminal documents in rock history. The first of these films,Monterey Pop,was released in 1968 and was later ranked at No. 42 onTime Out's list of the 50 best documentaries of all time.[18]Other performers includingJefferson Airplaneandthe Whoalso received major exposure from Pennebaker's work.[6]

1970–1992

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Pennebaker continued to film some of the era's most influential rock artists, includingJohn Lennon(whom he first met while filming Dylan in England),Little Richard,Jerry Lee Lewis,andDavid Bowieduringhis "farewell" concert in 1973.

In 1970, Pennebaker filmed the cast recording session forStephen SondheimandGeorge Furth's musical,Company,shortly after the show opened on Broadway. The film was initially intended to be a television pilot chronicling recording processes of Broadway musicals, but despite wide acclaim the series was scrapped after the original producers left New York to head production at MGM. No other sessions were captured, and Pennebaker's film remains the sole episode.Original Cast Album: Companyreceived renewed attention after being parodied in the IFC television seriesDocumentary Now!in 2019, then being added toThe Criterion Channel's streaming service the following year.[19]In August 2021 a physical edition was released, including new commentary by Sondheim and commentary recorded in 2001 by Pennebaker, original directorHal Prince,andCompanystarElaine Stritch.[20]

Pennebaker was one of many participants inJohn LennonandYoko Ono's 1971 filmUp Your Legs Forever.[21]

He also collaborated withJean-Luc Godard,who had been impressed byPrimary.Their initial plan was to film "whatever we saw happening around us" in a small town in France, but this never came to fruition. In 1968, the two worked on a film that Godard initially conceived as "One AM" (One American Movie) on the subject of anticipated mass struggles in the United States – similar to theuprisings in France that year.When it became clear that Godard's assessment was incorrect, he abandoned the film. Pennebaker eventually finished the project himself and released it several years later asOne PM,meaning "One Perfect Movie" to Pennebaker and "One Pennebaker Movie" to Godard.[8]

Pennebaker's film company was also a notable distributor of foreign films, including Godard'sLa Chinoise(the American opening of which became the context forOne PM), but the endeavor was ultimately a short-lived and costly business venture. Then around 1976, Pennebaker met experimental filmmaker turned documentarianChris Hegedus.The two soon became collaborators and then married in 1982.

In 1977, Pennebaker lent his editing facility to Filipino documentarian Egay Navarro for him to edit the half-hour propaganda filmDa Real Makoy,written and directed by cartoonistNonoy Marcelo,narrated by Philippine PresidentFerdinand Marcosand produced by his daughterImee Marcos.[22][23]

In 1988, Pennebaker, Hegedus and David Dawkins followedDepeche Modeas they toured the U.S. in support ofMusic for the Masses,the band's commercial breakthrough in America. The resulting film,101,was released the following year, and prominently features a group of young fans travelling across America as winners of a "be-in-a-Depeche-Mode-movie-contest," which culminates at Depeche Mode's landmark concert at theRose Bowlin Pasadena.[24]Because of this, the film is widely considered to be the impetus for the "reality" craze that swept MTV in the following years, includingThe Real WorldandRoad Rules.[25][26][27][28]In various interviews, DVD commentaries and on their own website, both Pennebaker and Hegedus have cited101as "their favorite" and "the one that was the most fun to make" out of all their films to date.[29][30]

The NationalatBAMduring the webcast directed by Pennebaker and Hegedus

In 1992, during the start of the Democratic primaries, Pennebaker and Hegedus approached campaign officials forArkansasgovernorBill Clintonabout filming his presidential run. They were granted limited access to the candidate but allowed to focus on lead strategistJames Carvilleand communications directorGeorge Stephanopoulos.The resulting work,The War Room,became one of their most celebrated films, winning the award for Best Documentary from theNational Board of Review of Motion Picturesand earning anAcademy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.[31][32]

Later career

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Pennebaker and Hegedus continued to produce a large number of documentary films through their company, Pennebaker Hegedus Films, most notablyMoon Over Broadway(1998),Down from the Mountain(2001),Startup.com(2001),Elaine Stritch: At Liberty(2004),Al Franken: God Spoke(2006), andKings of Pastry(2009).

In May 2010, they directed their first live show when they directed a YouTube webcast ofthe Nationalperforming a benefit show at theBrooklyn Academy of Music.[33]That same yearKings of Pastryopened at multiple film festivals, including IDFA,Sheffield Doc/Fest,DOX BOX,the Berlin International Film Festival and Hot Docs, before premiering in New York City. In 2012 he was awarded a Governors Award, introduced byMichael Moore.In 2014 it was reported that Pennebaker, in collaboration with his wife, was working on a documentary focused on theNonhuman Rights Projectand its efforts to have certain animals, such ascetaceans,elephants, and apes, be classified as legal persons.[34]

Process and style

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Pennebaker usually shot his films with a hand-held camera and often eschewed voice-over narration and interviews in favor of a "simple" portrayal of events. In a 1971 interview with G. Roy Levin, Pennebaker said that "it's possible to go to a situation and simply film what you see there, what happens there, what goes on, and let everybody decide whether it tells them about any of these things. But you don't have to label them, you don't have to have the narration to instruct you so you can be sure and understand that it's good for you to learn." In that same interview with Levin, Pennebaker went so far as to claim thatDont Look Backis "not a documentary at all by my standards". He repeatedly asserted that he did not make documentaries, but "records of moments", "half soap operas", and "semimusical reality things".

An accomplished engineer, Pennebaker developed one of the first fully portable, synchronized 16mm camera and sound recording systems which revolutionized modern filmmaking.[35]

Death and legacy

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Pennebaker died at his home inSag Harbor, New York,on August 1, 2019.[36]

His aesthetic and technical breakthroughs have also had a major influence on narrative filmmaking, influencing such realist masterworks asBarbara Loden'sWanda,which was filmed and edited by one of Pennebaker's protégés, Nicholas Proferes,[37]and even acclaimed satires such asTim Robbins'Bob Roberts.[38]

His style has also been spoofed byWeird Al Yankovic[39]and the Emmy-nominatedmockumentaryseriesDocumentary Now.[40][41][42]

Filmography

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Awards and honors

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Year Association Category Project Result Ref.
1994 Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature The War Room Nominated
2013 Honorary Academy Award Received
2004 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series Elaine Stritch at Liberty Nominated
2018 News and Documentary Emmy Award Outstanding Social Issue Documentary Unlocking the Cage Nominated
1968 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Monterey Pop Nominated
1987 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Jimi Plays Monterey Nominated
2002 Cannes Film Festival C.I.C.A.E Award Only the Strong Survive Nominated

References

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  1. ^Taylor, Drew."Honorary Oscars Go To Documentarian D.A. Pennebaker & More | IndieWire".IndieWire.com. Archived fromthe originalon March 16, 2016.RetrievedNovember 21,2012.
  2. ^Lim, Dennis (November 23, 1997)."Arts: A marriage made in verite".The Independent.London.Archivedfrom the original on September 23, 2015.Retrieved6 June2015.
  3. ^"D. A. Pennebaker Biography (1925-)".www.filmreference.com.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  4. ^"DA Pennebaker obituary".the Guardian.August 4, 2019.RetrievedJune 30,2020.
  5. ^"Filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker's Rock 'n' Roll Life".Wall Street Journal.July 11, 2017.RetrievedApril 15,2018.
  6. ^ab"Fandango biography".RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  7. ^D.A. Pennebaker dead: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker dead at 94 - CBS News
  8. ^abPhillips, Richard (August 12, 1998)."Pennebaker and Hegedus: seminal figures in American documentary film".World Socialist Web Site.International Committee of the Fourth International.RetrievedJune 2,2013.
  9. ^"Home".Drew Associates.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  10. ^abPennebaker, D.A. (1964)."The Audition".Pennebaker Hegedus Films. Archived fromthe original(video)on July 21, 2011.RetrievedJune 4,2011.
  11. ^abMyers, Marc (May 31, 2011)."Dave Lambert: Audition at RCA".JazzWax.RetrievedJune 4,2011.
  12. ^"BBC Storyville: Interview with D.A. Pennebaker (2005)".Archived fromthe originalon August 23, 2007.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  13. ^"Don't Look Back (1996)".July 13, 1996.RetrievedJune 20,2020– via www.rottentomatoes.com.
  14. ^"Rock On The Net: Rolling Stone:" The 100 Top Music Videos "(1993)".Rockonthenet.com.
  15. ^Films, Pennebaker Hegedus (April 12, 2013)."DONT LOOK BACK (1967) - Trailer".RetrievedJune 20,2020– via Vimeo.
  16. ^Time Out's 50 best documentaries of all time (2010)
  17. ^Town Bloody Hall (1979)|The Criterion Collection
  18. ^Time Out's 50 best documentaries of all time (2010)
  19. ^Romano, Aja (June 12, 2020)."Recording the Company cast album was infamously hellish. This cult favorite doc captured it all".Vox.RetrievedSeptember 2,2021.
  20. ^Rosky, Nicole."Criterion Will Release Special Edition of ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: COMPANY Documentary in August".BroadwayWorld.com.RetrievedSeptember 2,2021.
  21. ^Jonathan Cott (July 16, 2013).Days That I'll Remember: Spending Time With John Lennon & Yoko Ono.Omnibus Press. p. 74.ISBN978-1-78323-048-8.
  22. ^Severino, Howie (January 29, 2014)."'Let the picture come to you' (2 decades of working with Egay Navarro) ".GMA News Online.GMA Network Inc.RetrievedJuly 1,2024.
  23. ^Mayuga, Sylvia L. (2005). "RevisitingDa Real Makoy".Huling Ptyk: Da Art of Nonoy Marcelo.The House Printers Corporation. pp.68–69.
  24. ^Giles, Jeff (July 12–26, 1990), "Depeche Mode Interview (Sidebar)",Rolling Stone,no. 582/583, pp.60–65
  25. ^Doole, Kerry (July 1989), "The Class of 101",Music Express Magazine,vol. 13, no. 138, pp.40–44
  26. ^"DA Pennebaker: No Spinal Tap jokes, please..."The Independent.November 9, 2003.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  27. ^"The Story Of 101".YouTube.1989.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2021.RetrievedMarch 11,2017.
  28. ^Krajewski, Jill (September 30, 2017)."This 80s Depeche Mode Doc Starring Teen Fans Was the First True Reality Show".RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  29. ^"Depeche Mode 101 | Pennebaker Hegedus Films".phfilms.com.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  30. ^"depeche mode dot com - 101 on DVD".101dvd.depechemode.com.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  31. ^"Documentary Short Subject and Feature Winners in 1994-Oscars on YouTube".YouTube.February 4, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2021.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  32. ^"The 66th Academy Awards | 1994".Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.October 4, 2014.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  33. ^Breihan, Tom (May 4, 2010)."D.A. Pennebaker to Direct the National".Pitchfork.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  34. ^"And the Oscar goes to…D.A. Pennebaker!: The Nonhuman Rights Project".Archived fromthe originalon August 20, 2014.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  35. ^"John Grierson International Gold Medal Award biography".Archived fromthe originalon July 19, 2011.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  36. ^Williams, John (August 3, 2019)."D.A. Pennebaker, Pioneer of Cinéma Vérité in America, Dies at 94".The New York Times.RetrievedAugust 4,2019.
  37. ^"L.A. Weekly article on Barbara Loden'sWanda".RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  38. ^"Bob Roberts".DVD Talk.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  39. ^""Weird Al" Yankovic - Bob on YouTube ".YouTube.December 20, 2012.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2021.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  40. ^"Documentary Now! | The Bunker vs The War Room | IFC on YouTube".YouTube.September 15, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2021.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  41. ^McHenry, Jackson (February 27, 2019)."How Documentary Now Made the Sondheim-Alike Musical Co-op".Vulture.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  42. ^"Documentary Now" COMPANY Conversation - Criterion Channel Clip on Vimeo
  43. ^"Daybreak Express (Remastered) - Duke Ellington -Topic on YouTube".YouTube.June 8, 2018.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2021.RetrievedJune 20,2020.
  44. ^Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey (1986)|The Criterion Collection

Further reading

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  • Aitken, Ian ed.Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film.Routledge (2005).
  • Dave Saunders.Direct Cinema: Observational Documentary and the Politics of the Sixties.London: Wallflower Press, 2007.
  • Pennebaker, D.A. "Interview with Donn Alan Pennebaker by G. Roy Levin". InDocumentary Explorations: 15 Interviews with Film-makers,221–70. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971.
  • Jeanne Hall. "Don't You Ever Just Watch?: American Cinema Verite andDon't Look Back".InDocumenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video,223–37. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1998.
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