View source for D. A. Pennebaker

{{short description|American documentary filmmaker (1925–2019)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = D. A. Pennebaker
| image        = D A Pennebaker 2 by David Shankbone.jpg
| caption      = Pennebaker in New York City in 2007
| birth_name   = Donn Alan Pennebaker
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1925|07|15}}
| birth_place  = [[Evanston, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|2019|08|01|1925|07|15}}
| death_place  = [[Sag Harbor, New York]], U.S.
| death_cause  =
| other_names  =
| alma_mater   = [[Yale University]]
| occupation   = Documentarian, author
| years_active = 1953–2019
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Chris Hegedus]]|1982}}<!--End year omitted when marriage ends w/ death of article subject-->
| website      = {{URL|https://phfilms.com}}
}}
'''Donn Alan Pennebaker''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɛ|n|iː|b|eɪ|k|ər}}; July 15, 1925 – August 1, 2019) was an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of [[direct cinema]]. [[Performing arts]] and politics were his primary subjects. In 2013, the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] recognized his body of work with an [[Academy Honorary Award]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Drew |title=Honorary Oscars Go To Documentarian D.A. Pennebaker & More &#124; IndieWire |url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/2013-honorary-oscars-go-to-documentarian-d-a-pennebaker-stuntman-director-hal-needham-george-stevens-jr-and-executive-jeffrey-katzenberg-20120906 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316212814/http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/2013-honorary-oscars-go-to-documentarian-d-a-pennebaker-stuntman-director-hal-needham-george-stevens-jr-and-executive-jeffrey-katzenberg-20120906 |archive-date=March 16, 2016 |access-date=November 21, 2012 |publisher=IndieWire.com}}</ref> Pennebaker was called by ''[[The Independent]]'' as "arguably the pre-eminent chronicler of [[Counterculture of the 1960s|Sixties counterculture]]".<ref name="The Independent 1997">{{Cite news |last=Lim |first=Dennis |date=23 November 1997 |title=Arts: A marriage made in verite |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arts-a-marriage-made-in-verite-1295862.html |url-status=live |access-date=6 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923090404/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arts-a-marriage-made-in-verite-1295862.html |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |df=mdy}}</ref>

He received an [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]] nomination for ''[[The War Room]]'' (1993). He is also known for directing documentaries such as ''[[Dont Look Back]]'' (1967), ''[[Monterey Pop]]'' (1968), ''[[Original Cast Album: Company]]'' (1971), ''[[Eat the Document]]'' (1972), ''[[Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (film)|Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars]]'' (1979), ''[[Jimi Plays Monterey]]'' (1986), ''[[Elaine Stritch: At Liberty]]'' (2004), and ''[[Kings of Pastry]]'' (2009).

== Early life and education ==
Pennebaker (known as "Penny" to his friends) was born in [[Evanston, Illinois]], the son of Lucille Levick (née Deemer) and John Paul Pennebaker, who was a commercial photographer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=D. A. Pennebaker Biography (1925-) |url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/75/D-A-Pennebaker.html |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=www.filmreference.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-08-04 |title=DA Pennebaker obituary |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/04/da-pennebaker-obituary |access-date=2020-06-30 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> Pennebaker served in the Navy during [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 July 2017 |title=Filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker's Rock 'n' Roll Life |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/filmmaker-d-a-pennebakers-rock-n-roll-life-1499785358 |access-date=15 April 2018 |website=Wall Street Journal}}</ref> He then studied engineering at [[Yale]] and later worked as an engineer, founding Electronics Engineering (the makers of the first computerized airline reservation system) before beginning his film career.<ref name="Fandango biography">{{Cite web |title=Fandango biography |url=https://www.fandango.com/people/da-pennebaker-521152/biography |access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

== Career ==
===1953–1963===
After falling under the influence of experimental filmmaker [[Francis Thompson (film director)|Francis Thompson]], Pennebaker directed his first film, ''Daybreak Express'', in 1953. Set to a classic [[Duke Ellington]] recording of the same name, the five-minute short features a shadowy montage of the soon-to-be-demolished [[IRT Third Avenue Line|Third Avenue elevated subway]] in New York City.<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/da-pennebaker-dead-oscar-winning-documentary-filmmaker-dead-at-94-son-confirms-today-2019-08-03/ D.A. Pennebaker dead: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker dead at 94 - CBS News]</ref>
It was released in 1958. According to Pennebaker, Ellington responded favourably to the film.<ref name="seminalfigures">{{Cite web |last=Phillips |first=Richard |title=Pennebaker and Hegedus: seminal figures in American documentary film |url=http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1998/08/penn-a12.html |access-date=June 2, 2013 |website=[[World Socialist Web Site]] |date=August 12, 1998 |publisher=International Committee of the Fourth International}}</ref>

In 1959, Pennebaker joined the equipment-sharing Filmakers’ Co-op and co-founded Drew Associates with [[Richard Leacock]] and former ''[[Life (magazine)|LIFE]]'' magazine editor and correspondent [[Robert Drew]]. A crucial moment in the development of direct cinema, the collective produced documentary films for clients like [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] (for their television series, ''Close-up'') and [[Time-Life]] Broadcast (for their syndicated television series, ''Living Camera''). Their first major film, ''[[Primary (movie)|Primary]]'' (1960), documented [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Hubert Humphrey]]'s respective campaigns in the 1960 [[Wisconsin]] Democratic Primary election. Drew, Leacock and Pennebaker, as well as photographers [[Albert and David Maysles|Albert 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 the [[Library of Congress]]' [[National Film Registry]] in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://drewassociates.com/ |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=Drew Associates}}</ref> Inspired by the depiction of Kennedy, Pennebaker received an assignment in 1963 to film a profile on the newly-elected Prime Minister of Canada, [[Lester B. Pearson]], for the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=English |first=John |title=The Worldy Years |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf Canada |year=1992 |isbn=0-394-22729-8 |edition=1st |location=}}</ref> Due to the unflattering portrayal of the Prime Minister, the documentary, ''Mr. Pearson'', was not shown until 1969—a year after Pearson had retired from office.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yaccato |first=Bruce |date=August 31, 2013 |title=Pearson dodged 1963 film bullet |url=https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal-gazette/20130831/281788511725701?srsltid=AfmBOooRQ7hmyUF9m_q31xI4Dl9BCwpD-kffKuuvVjhB-GPAWIRABHSm |access-date=June 19, 2025 |work=Montreal Gazette}}</ref> 

===1963–1968===
Drew Associates would produce nine more documentaries for ''Living Camera'', including ''[[Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment|Crisis]]'', which chronicled President Kennedy and Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]]'s conflict with governor [[George Wallace]] over school [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]]. 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 vocalist [[Dave Lambert (American jazz vocalist)|Dave Lambert]] as he formed a new quintet with singers such as [[David Lucas (composer)|David Lucas]] and auditioned for [[RCA Corporation|RCA]]. 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,<ref name=lambert1/><ref name=lambert2/> and a few weeks later, [[Bob Dylan]]'s manager [[Albert Grossman]] approached Pennebaker about filming Dylan while he was touring in England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Storyville: Interview with D.A. Pennebaker (2005) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/dont-look-back-pennebaker.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070823001044/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/dont-look-back-pennebaker.shtml |archive-date=August 23, 2007 |access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> The resulting work ''[[Dont 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 critic [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Don't Look Back (1996) |date=July 13, 1996 |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dont_look_back |access-date=June 20, 2020 |via=www.rottentomatoes.com}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rock On The Net: Rolling Stone: "The 100 Top Music Videos" (1993) |url=http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1993/rsvideo.htm |website=Rockonthenet.com}}</ref> It was even used as the theatrical trailer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Films |first=Pennebaker Hegedus |date=April 12, 2013 |title=DONT LOOK BACK (1967) - Trailer |url=https://vimeo.com/63913470 |access-date=June 20, 2020 |via=Vimeo}}</ref> It would later be included in the [[Library of Congress]]' [[National Film Registry]] in 1998, and it was later ranked at No. 6 on ''[[Time Out (company)|Time Out]]''{{'}}s list of the 50 best documentaries of all time.<ref>[http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/599047/the-50-best-documentaries-of-all-time?page=0,5 Time Out's 50 best documentaries of all time (2010)]</ref>

Pennebaker would also film [[Bob Dylan World Tour 1966|Dylan's subsequent tour of England in 1966]], but while some of this work has been released in different forms (supplying the framework for [[Martin Scorsese]]'s Dylan documentary ''[[No Direction Home]]'' and re-edited by Dylan himself in the rarely distributed ''[[Eat 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 the [[Nagra]] recordings 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 by [[Richard Alderson (record producer)|Richard Alderson]], who, for years, never received recognition. All of his tapes are what comprise the 36-CD box set ''[[The 1966 Live Recordings|Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings]]'', released in 2016. It is Alderson who notes that many of the UK concerts were, in fact, filmed by [[Howard Alk]].

The same year ''Dont Look Back'' was released in theaters, Pennebaker worked with author [[Norman Mailer]] (who would later appear in 1979's ''[[Town Bloody Hall]]''<ref>[https://www.criterion.com/films/30213-town-bloody-hall Town Bloody Hall (1979)|The Criterion Collection]</ref>) on the first of many film collaborations. He was also hired to film the [[Monterey Pop Festival]], which is now regarded as an important event in rock history on par with 1969's [[Woodstock Festival]]. Pennebaker produced a number of films from the event, capturing breakthrough performances from [[the Jimi Hendrix Experience]], [[Otis Redding]] and [[Janis Joplin]] that remain seminal documents in rock history. The first of these films, ''[[Monterey Pop]]'', was released in 1968 and was later ranked at No. 42 on ''Time Out''{{'}}s list of the 50 best documentaries of all time.<ref>[http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/599047/the-50-best-documentaries-of-all-time?page=0,1 Time Out's 50 best documentaries of all time (2010)]</ref> Other performers including [[Jefferson Airplane]] and [[the Who]] also received major exposure from Pennebaker's work.<ref name="Fandango biography" />

===1970–1992===
Pennebaker continued to film some of the era's most influential rock artists, including [[John Lennon]] (whom he first met while filming Dylan in England), [[Little Richard]], [[Jerry Lee Lewis]], and [[David Bowie]] during [[Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (film)|his "farewell" concert in 1973]].

In 1970, Pennebaker filmed the cast recording session for [[Stephen Sondheim]] and [[George Furth]]'s musical, [[Company (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: Company]]'' received renewed attention after being parodied in the IFC television series ''[[Documentary Now!]]'' in 2019, then being added to [[The Criterion Channel]]'s streaming service the following year.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Romano|first=Aja|date=2020-06-12|title=Recording the Company cast album was infamously hellish. This cult favorite doc captured it all.|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/6/12/21288505/original-cast-album-company-1970-documentary-now-co-op-streaming|access-date=2021-09-02|website=Vox|language=en}}</ref> In August 2021 a physical edition was released, including new commentary by Sondheim and commentary recorded in 2001 by Pennebaker, original director [[Harold Prince|Hal Prince]], and ''Company'' star [[Elaine Stritch]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rosky|first=Nicole|title=Criterion Will Release Special Edition of ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: COMPANY Documentary in August|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Criterion-Will-Release-Special-Edition-of-ORIGINAL-CAST-ALBUM-COMPANY-Documentary-in-August-20210517|access-date=2021-09-02|website=BroadwayWorld.com|language=en}}</ref>

Pennebaker was one of many participants in [[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]]'s 1971 film ''[[Up Your Legs Forever]]''.<ref name="Cott2013">{{Cite book |last=Jonathan Cott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ei8DAwAAQBAJ |title=Days That I'll Remember: Spending Time With John Lennon & Yoko Ono |date=16 July 2013 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=978-1-78323-048-8 |page=74}}</ref>

He also collaborated with [[Jean-Luc Godard]], who had been impressed by ''Primary''. 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 the [[May 1968 events in France|uprisings 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 as ''[[One P.M.]]'', meaning "One Perfect Movie" to Pennebaker and "One Pennebaker Movie" to Godard.<ref name=seminalfigures />

Pennebaker's film company was also a notable distributor of foreign films, including Godard's ''[[La Chinoise]]'' (the American opening of which became the context for ''One P.M.''), but the endeavor was ultimately a short-lived and costly business venture. Then around 1976, Pennebaker met experimental filmmaker turned documentarian [[Chris 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 film ''Da Real Makoy'', written and directed by cartoonist [[Nonoy Marcelo]], narrated by Philippine President [[Ferdinand Marcos]] and produced by his daughter [[Imee Marcos]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Severino|first=Howie|title='Let the picture come to you' (2 decades of working with Egay Navarro)|url=https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/content/346131/let-the-picture-come-to-you-2-decades-of-working-with-egay-navarro/story/|access-date=July 1, 2024|work=[[GMA News Online]]|publisher=[[GMA Network|GMA Network Inc.]]|date=January 29, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mayuga|first=Sylvia L.|title=Huling Ptyk: Da Art of Nonoy Marcelo|date=2005|publisher=The House Printers Corporation|pages=68–69|chapter=Revisiting ''Da Real Makoy''}}</ref>

In 1988, Pennebaker, Hegedus and David Dawkins followed [[Depeche Mode]] as they toured the U.S. in support of ''[[Music for the Masses]]'', the band's commercial breakthrough in America. The resulting film, ''[[101 (album)|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 the [[Rose Bowl (stadium)|Rose Bowl]] in Pasadena.<ref name="RS90X">{{Citation |last=Giles |first=Jeff |title=Depeche Mode Interview (Sidebar) |date=12–26 July 1990 |work=[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]] |issue=582/583 |pages=60–65}}</ref> Because of this, the film is widely considered to be the impetus for the "reality" craze that swept MTV in the following years, including ''[[The Real World (TV series)|The Real World]]'' and ''[[Road Rules]]''.<ref name="MM89">{{Citation |last=Doole |first=Kerry |title=The Class of 101 |date=July 1989 |work=Music Express Magazine |volume=13 |issue=138 |pages=40–44}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=November 9, 2003 |title=DA Pennebaker: No Spinal Tap jokes, please... |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/da-pennebaker-no-spinal-tap-jokes-please-77717.html |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=1989|title=The Story Of 101|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWaba-OibR4|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/xWaba-OibR4|archive-date=December 22, 2021|url-status=live|access-date=11 March 2017 |publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Krajewski |first=Jill |date=September 30, 2017 |title=This 80s Depeche Mode Doc Starring Teen Fans Was the First True Reality Show |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-80s-depeche-mode-doc-starring-teen-fans-was-the-first-true-reality-show/ |access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> In various interviews, DVD commentaries and on their own website, both Pennebaker and Hegedus have cited ''101'' as "their favorite" and "the one that was the most fun to make" out of all their films to date.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Depeche Mode 101 &#124; Pennebaker Hegedus Films |url=https://phfilms.com/films/depeche-mode-101/ |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=phfilms.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=depeche mode dot com - 101 on DVD |url=http://101dvd.depechemode.com/pressrelease.html |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=101dvd.depechemode.com}}</ref>

[[Image:The National at Brooklyn Academy of Music.jpg|thumbnail|[[The National (band)|The National]] at [[Brooklyn Academy of Music|BAM]] during the webcast directed by Pennebaker and Hegedus]]

In 1992, during the start of the Democratic primaries, Pennebaker and Hegedus approached campaign officials for [[Arkansas]] governor [[Bill Clinton]] about filming his presidential run. They were granted limited access to the candidate but allowed to focus on lead strategist [[James Carville]] and communications director [[George Stephanopoulos]]. The resulting work, ''[[The War Room]]'', became one of their most celebrated films, winning the award for Best Documentary from the [[National Board of Review of Motion Pictures]] and earning an [[Academy Award for Documentary Feature|Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Documentary Short Subject and Feature Winners in 1994-Oscars on YouTube|website=[[YouTube]]|date=February 4, 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5eZWz7V0VM|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/b5eZWz7V0VM|archive-date=December 22, 2021|url-status=live|access-date=June 20, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The 66th Academy Awards &#124; 1994|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1994|access-date=June 20, 2020|website=Oscars.org &#124; Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=October 4, 2014 }}</ref>

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

In May 2010, they directed their first live show when they directed a YouTube webcast of [[The National (band)|the National]] performing a benefit show at the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Breihan |first=Tom |title=D.A. Pennebaker to Direct the National |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/38689-da-pennebaker-to-direct-the-national/ |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=Pitchfork|date=May 4, 2010 }}</ref> That same year ''[[Kings of Pastry]]'' opened 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 by [[Michael Moore]]. In 2014 it was reported that Pennebaker, in collaboration with his wife, was working on a documentary focused on the [[Nonhuman Rights Project]] and its efforts to have certain animals, such as [[cetaceans]], elephants, and apes, be classified as legal persons.<ref>{{Cite web |title=And the Oscar goes to…D.A. Pennebaker! : The Nonhuman Rights Project |url=http://www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/2012/12/12/and-the-oscar-goes-tod-a-pennebaker/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820221517/http://www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/2012/12/12/and-the-oscar-goes-tod-a-pennebaker/ |archive-date=August 20, 2014 |access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

==Process and style==
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 that ''Dont Look Back'' is "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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Grierson International Gold Medal Award biography |url=http://www.smpte.org/about/awards_program/grierson_winners |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719180253/http://www.smpte.org/about/awards_program/grierson_winners |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Pennebaker died at his home in [[Sag Harbor, New York]], on August 1, 2019.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=John |date=August 3, 2019 |title=D.A. Pennebaker, Pioneer of Cinéma Vérité in America, Dies at 94 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/03/movies/d-a-pennebaker-dead.html |access-date=August 4, 2019}}</ref>

His aesthetic and technical breakthroughs have also had a major influence on narrative filmmaking, influencing such realist masterworks as [[Barbara Loden]]'s ''[[Wanda (film)|Wanda]]'', which was filmed and edited by one of Pennebaker's protégés, Nicholas Proferes,<ref>{{Cite web |title=L.A. Weekly article on Barbara Loden's ''Wanda'' |url=http://www.laweekly.com/2011-03-17/film-tv/one-hit-wanda/ |access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> and even acclaimed satires such as [[Tim Robbins]]' ''[[Bob Roberts]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bob Roberts |url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/2322/bob-roberts/ |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=DVD Talk}}</ref>

His style has also been spoofed by [[Weird Al Yankovic]]<ref>{{Cite web |title="Weird Al" Yankovic - Bob on YouTube | website=[[YouTube]] | date=December 20, 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUQDzj6R3p4  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/JUQDzj6R3p4 |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|access-date=June 20, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and the Emmy-nominated [[mockumentary]] series ''[[Documentary Now]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Documentary Now! &#124; The Bunker vs The War Room &#124; IFC on YouTube | website=[[YouTube]] | date=September 15, 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvNQ6QCVxhc  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/AvNQ6QCVxhc |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|access-date=June 20, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McHenry |first=Jackson |date=February 27, 2019 |title=How Documentary Now Made the Sondheim-Alike Musical Co-op |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/documentary-now-making-of-co-op-musical.html |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=Vulture}}</ref><ref>[https://vimeo.com/429325414 "Documentary Now" COMPANY Conversation - Criterion Channel Clip on Vimeo]</ref>

==Filmography==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
===Feature documentaries===
* ''Opening in Moscow'' (1959)
* ''Primary'' (1960, National Film Registry Inductee)
* ''Jane'' (1962)
* ''[[Dont Look Back]]'' (1967, filmed 1965; National Film Registry inductee) with [[Bob Dylan]]
* ''Something Is Happening'' (unreleased, filmed 1966) with Bob Dylan
* ''Eat the Document'' (limited release, filmed 1966) with [[Bob Dylan]]
* ''Monterey Pop'' (1968, filmed 1967; National Film Registry Inductee)
* ''[[Sweet Toronto]]'' (1971, filmed 1969) with [[The Plastic Ono Band]]
* ''One P.M.'' (1971)
* ''Original Cast Album: Company'' (1971) with Stephen Sondheim
* ''Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (1979, filmed 1973) with David Bowie
* ''Town Bloody Hall'' (1979, filmed 1971)
* ''[[Elliott Carter]] at Buffalo'' (1980)
* ''[[Rockaby]]'' (1981)
* ''DeLorean'' (1981) with [[John DeLorean]]
* ''Dance Black America'' (1983)
* ''Jimi Plays Monterey'' (1986) with [[Jimi Hendrix]]<ref>[https://www.criterion.com/films/722-jimi-plays-monterey-shake-otis-at-monterey Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey (1986)|The Criterion Collection]</ref>
* ''101'' (1989) with Depeche Mode
* ''[[Jerry Lee Lewis]]: The Story of Rock & Roll'' (1991)
* ''[[Branford Marsalis]]: The Music Tells You'' (1992)
* ''The War Room'' (1993, Oscar nominee)
* ''[[Woodstock Diary]]'' (1994)
* ''Keine Zeit'' (1996) with German artist [[Marius Müller-Westernhagen]]
* ''Moon Over Broadway'' (1997)
* ''Bessie: A Portrait of [[Bessie Schonberg]]'' (1998)
* ''Down from the Mountain'' (2000)
* ''Startup.com'' (2001, as producer)
* ''Only the Strong Survive'' (2002)
* ''Elaine Stritch: At Liberty'' (2004, Emmy winner)
* ''Al Franken: God Spoke'' (2006, as executive producer)
* ''The Return of the War Room'' (2008)

===Short documentaries===
* ''Daybreak Express'' (1953)
* ''Baby'' (1954)
* ''Breaking It Up at the Museum'' (1960)
* ''Anatomy of Cindy Fink'' (1960)
* ''You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You'' (1964)
* ''Jingle Bells'' (1964) with Robert F. Kennedy
* ''Lambert & Co., or "Audition at RCA"'' (1964)<ref name="lambert1">{{Cite web |last=Pennebaker, D.A. |year=1964 |title=The Audition |url=http://www.phfilms.com/index.php/phf/film/lambert_co/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721075029/http://www.phfilms.com/index.php/phf/film/lambert_co/ |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |access-date=June 4, 2011 |publisher=Pennebaker Hegedus Films |format=video |df=mdy}}</ref><ref name="lambert2">{{Cite web |last=Myers, Marc |date=May 31, 2011 |title=Dave Lambert: Audition at RCA |url=http://www.jazzwax.com/2011/05/dave-lambert.html |access-date=June 4, 2011 |publisher=[[JazzWax]]}}</ref>
* ''Rainforest'' (1968)
* ''[[Keep On Rockin' (film)|Little Richard: Keep on Rockin']]'' (1970)
* ''[[Alice Cooper]]'' (1970)
* ''Queen of Apollo'' (1970)
* ''[[Shake! Otis at Monterey]]'' (1987) with Otis Redding
* ''Otis Redding: Live at Monterey'' (1989)
* ''[[Chuck Berry]]: Rock 'N Roll Music'' (1992)
* ''[[Suzanne Vega]]'' (1997)
* ''[[Victoria Williams]] – Happy Come Home'' (1997)
* ''[[Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl]]'' (2006) with [[Robert Wuhl]]
* ''[[65 Revisited]]'' (2007), one-hour documentary accompanying DVD release of ''Dont Look Back''
* ''Kings of Pastry'' (2009)
* ''[[Unlocking the Cage]]'' (2016)

===Television===
* ''The Energy War'' (1977, three episodes)
{{div col end}}

== Awards and honors ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Association
! Category
! Project
! Result
! class=unsortable|{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}}
|-
|1994 || rowspan=2|[[Academy Awards]] || [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature|Best Documentary Feature]] || ''[[The War Room]]'' || {{nom}} ||
|-
|2013 || colspan=2|[[Academy Honorary Award|Honorary Academy Award]] || {{won|Received}} ||
|-
|2004 || [[Primetime Emmy Awards]] || [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series|Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series]] || ''[[Elaine Stritch at Liberty]]'' || {{nom}} ||
|-
|2018 || [[News and Documentary Emmy Award]] || Outstanding Social Issue Documentary || ''[[Unlocking the Cage]]'' || {{nom}} ||
|-
|1968 || [[Venice International Film Festival|Venice Film Festival]] || [[Golden Lion]]'' || ''[[Monterey Pop]]'' || {{nom}}
|-
|1987 || [[Sundance Film Festival]] || Grand Jury Prize || ''[[Jimi Plays Monterey]]'' || {{nom}}
|-
|2002 || [[Cannes Film Festival]] || C.I.C.A.E Award || ''Only the Strong Survive'' || {{nom}}
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* 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". In ''Documentary Explorations: 15 Interviews with Film-makers,'' 221–70. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971.
* Jeanne Hall. "Don't You Ever Just Watch?: American Cinema Verite and ''Don't Look Back''{{-"}}. In ''Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video'', 223–37. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1998.

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* {{Official website|https://phfilms.com|Pennebaker Hegedus Films}}
* {{IMDb name|0672060}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070228035540/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1593766,00.html Q&A with D. A. Pennebaker, 2007]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304202819/http://podstantsiya.ru/?area=posts&id=134 English language podcast interview with D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110628091230/http://stfdocs.com/blog/comments/mooney_vs._fowle_the_living_camera_turns_to_football/ D.A. Pennebaker, Robert Drew, Hope Ryden and James Lipscomb discuss ''Mooney vs. Fowle'' and Richard Leacock]
*{{C-SPAN|33639}}
{{D. A. Pennebaker}}
{{Academy Honorary Award}}
{{Authority control}}

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