R.I.P. D.A. Pennebaker (1925-2019)

D.A. Pennebaker

On August 1, 2019, documentarian D.A. Pennebaker passed away at the age of 94 in Sag Harbor, New York. Over the course of 60 years, he helped to document many of the major events in politics and pop culture, most notably the rise of Bob Dylan, the Monterey Pop music festival, and the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. His work is some of the most influential in the documentary field, helping to create the modern sense of the medium by choosing to shoot reality instead of relying on interviews. His work has been praised for its authenticity and his ability to capture the world as it was. With several noteworthy works, he leaves behind a time capsule of history that is unlike any other and helps to better understand the artists who made the world into what it is. There have been few with as much inspiration as him.

Pennebaker was born in Evanston, Illinois on July 15, 1925. He served in the Navy during World War II before studying engineering at Yale. He also worked as an engineer at Electronics Engineering, who helped to design the first computerized airline reservation system. He would discover the world of experimental film with Francis Thompson. He would make his debut with Daybreak Express in 1953 where he set the five-minute short to a Duke Ellington song while filming a Third Avenue elevated subway station. It remains the earliest example of Pennebaker's work and reflects his ability to mix reality with experimental style. Ellington would see the short and give a favorable review of the project.

In 1959, he joined Drew Associates with Robert Drew, Richard Leacock, and Albert Mayseles. They would film various projects for clients, including the Close-Up series for ABC News. Among the most noteworthy projects was the 1960 documentary Primary. It is considered the first example of a documentary being able to follow the subject with a moveable camera (Pennebaker would help revolutionize the medium with a synchronized 176mm camera) as it followed John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey during that year's presidential campaign. It set the precedent not only for Pennebaker's career but also how the medium would shoot. He would continue to do political documentaries with Drew Associates before leaving in 1963.

Later subjects included Bob Dylan, whom he shot Dont Look Back with. The opening set to "Subterranean Homesick Blues" has become one of the defining images of '60s music as Dylan flips cue cards. He would continue to work with Dylan throughout the decade with a lot of the footage still not being professionally released. He also helped to film Monterey Pop, which chronicled the Monterey Pop Festival. It has since been considered one of the most essential music documentaries, capturing key performances by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Otis Redding, and Janis Joplin. In the '70s, he would work with John Lennon and even David Bowie in Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars from 1973. He also distributed films from directors like Jean-Luc Godard, notably La Chinoise. He would later collaborate on a project with Godard, but it would be mired in disagreements.

By 1982, he met his partner Chis Hegedus and collaborated with her on a variety of projects since. Among the noteworthy examples was the Depeche Mode documentary 101, which chronicled the Music for the Masses tour. With it featuring a lot of MTV-related footage of regular people winning contests, it was considered as the blueprint for MTV's later hit series The Real World. Pennebaker and Hegedus would consider it one of the most fun projects to work on. Later in their careers, he would film the documentary The War Room that centered on the Bill Clinton presidential election. Due to his limited access to Clinton, he filmed the staff working on the campaign notably James Carville and George Stephanopoulos. To date, it was the only documentary of his career to get a Best Documentary Oscar nomination.

Pennebaker and Hegedus never quite working together, finding various projects throughout the next two decades that appealed to them. These ranged from stage (Moon Over Broadway) to politics (Al Franken: God Spoke) to the rise of the internet (Startup . com). In 2012, he received an Honorary Oscar from Michael Moore. During this time he also became revered by parodist Weird Al Yankovic, who parodied the opening scene of Dont Look Back in a music video for "Bob." Similarly, the comedy show Documentary Now lampooned many of his shows including The War Room and Original Cast Album: Company. He was game to attend events held by the latter series, accepting their jokes as a loving homage.

It is likely that had Pennebaker not been around that the documentaries of today would look completely different. Similarly, events that defined the modern era would likely have never been properly captured. What he did was create a visual accompaniment to history that mattered, making it accessible to generations to come. He helped to make the camera move with his subjects, being allowed to be more personable and raw. He leaves behind a legacy that never lost relevance because the subjects he chose were all allowed to tell their own stories free of his interference. Many could learn how to make a documentary by watching any of his work. He's among the best in the medium and one of the greatest to ever hold a camera. He will be missed.