D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus have been celebrated in the documentary field for such groundbreaking films as Don't Look Back, Monterey Pop, Startup.com, Down From the Mountain, and The War Room. One of the founders of the Direct Cinema movement, Pennebaker originally teamed with Albert Maysles, Richard Leacock, and Robert Drew to engineer mobile film equipment that could readily capture fleeting and intimate moments in political and community life.
Now in his nineties, Pennebaker still teams up with fellow director and spouse Hegedus as well as other family members to document the shifting social and cultural scenes across the world, spotlighting such fascinating characters as animal-rights attorney Steven Wise, pastry chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, and comedy-writer-turned-U.S.-senator Al Franken.
An expanded version of this episode, featuring an extended interview, is available at this link.
- KBOO