• Unlocking the Cage

    2016

    Unlocking the Cage follows animal rights lawyer Steven Wise in his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans.

  • Kings of Pastry

    Kings of Pastry

    2009

    16 chefs. 3 days. 1 chance. It’s not a dream; it’s an obsession. The 2007 Meilleurs Ouvriers de France.

  • "The Return of the War Room" (2008)

    The Return of the War Room

    2008

    James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, Mary Matalin, and others from the Perot and McCain campaigns reflect on the 1992 Presidential election and how campaigns have changed.

  • Al Franken: God Spoke

    2006

    Franken transforms from political satirist to political pundit on Air America Radio.

  • Elaine Stritch at Liberty

    2004

    Broadway legend Elaine Stritch, on stage and off, remembers her life in the theater in her Tony winning show.

  • Only the Strong Survive

    Only the Strong Survive

    2002

    A Celebration of Soul Music with Sam Moore, Rufus Thomas, Wilson Pickett, Isaac Hayes, and more.

  • Down From The Mountain

    2001

    Emmylou Harris, Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch and others from the Coen Brother’s film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” perform in Nashville in 2000.

  • Startup.com

    2001

    Startup.com follows the adventures of schoolmates Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman, creators of govWorks.com, during the boom and crash of the first dot com mania.

  • Moon Over Broadway

    1998

    A backstage view of TV legend Carol Burnett’s return to Broadway in the 1995 farce “Moon Over Buffalo” written by Ken Ludwig.

  • Bessie: A Portrait of Bessie Schonberg

    1998

    Portrait of beloved choreography teacher Bessie Schonberg teaching at Juilliard, Dance Theater Workshop and Jacob’s Pillow.

  • Victoria Williams in "Happy Come Home"

    Victoria Williams – Happy Come Home

    1997

    A musical portrait of Victoria Williams singing her 1987 debut album “Happy Come Home” in Los Angeles and her hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana.

  • Keine Zeit

    1996

    A feature-length documentary following Marius Muller-Westernhagen as he tours for his 1994 platinum album, “Affentheater.

  • The War Room

    The War Room

    1993

    James Carville and George Stephanopoulos and the War Room team during the 1992 presidential election campaign.

  • Branford Marsalis: The Music Tells You

    1992

    Brandford Marsalis on tour with Jeff Tain Watts and Bob Hurst, in the recording studio, teaching, and jamming with Sting and the Grateful Dead.

  • Comin’ Home

    1991

    Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding company recording “Cheap Thrills” and performing at Martin Luther King’s memorial and the Monterey Pop Festival.

  • Little Richard

    1991

    The entire original performance of Little Richard at Toronto’s Rock and Roll Revival in 1969.

  • Jerry Lee Lewis

    1990

    A 1969 musical portrait of Jerry Lee Lewis, the most electrifying and talented artist in Rock and Roll history.

  • Depeche Mode 101

    Depeche Mode 101

    1989

    On the road with the pioneer synth/pop band in 1988 followed by a bus load of fans as they perform across America en route to their final 101 concert at the Rose Bowl in California.

  • Suzanne Vega (1987)

    Suzanne Vega

    1987

    A musical portrait of singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega at home, rehearsing in New York, and on tour in England.

  • Shake – Otis at Monterey

    1986

    Otis Redding’s complete, electrifying performance at the historic Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

  • Jimi Plays Monterey

    1985

    Hendrix’s complete 1969 Monterey Pop Festival performance introduced by archival footage of his debut in the U.K. with his new band The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

  • Dance Black America

    Dance Black America

    1983

    Brooklyn Academy of Music’s three-day festival celebrating the roots of Black Dance.

  • Krapp’s Last Tape

    1983

    A historic 1971 performance of Samuel Beckett’s “Krapp’s Last Tape” directed by Alan Schneider and starring Jack MacGowran.

  • DeLorean

    1981

    DeLorean and team move from boardroom to assembly line creating his stainless steel gull-wing-door sports car in Northern Ireland.

  • Rockaby

    Rockaby

    1981

    Actress Billie Whitelaw in Alan Schneider’s production of a Samuel Beckett play.

  • Elliott Carter at Buffalo

    1980

    Renowned composer Elliott Carter rehearses and conducts his acclaimed masterpiece “The Double Concerto” performed by Ursula Oppens.

  • The Energy War

    1978

    A three-part PBS special, this political soap opera follows combatants on all sides during the fierce legislative battle over President Carter’s energy policy.

  • Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

    1973

    London 1973, Bowie’s last performance as Ziggy Stardust.

  • Sweet Toronto (Keep on Rockin)

    1972

    John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in 1969.

  • 1 PM

    1971

    1 PM, or One Parallel Movie, was shot by Leacock and Pennebaker in 1969 during Jean-Luc Godard’s never completed One American Movie (1 AM).

  • Town Bloody Hall

    1971

    Norman Mailer and Germaine Greer’s legendary 1971 Women’s Lib debate at Town Hall theater in NYC.

  • Alice Cooper

    Alice Cooper

    1970

    Alice Cooper and band’s first performance, organized by Frank Zappa, at the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival.

  • Company: Original Cast Album

    1970

    “Company” documents the grueling 1969 recording session for the Stephen Sondheim musical. Features Elaine Stritch’s show-stopping “Ladies Who Lunch.”

  • Queen of Apollo

    Queen of Apollo

    1970

    The 1970 debutante-queen of Apollo, an exclusive New Orleans Mardi Gras ball, on her big night.

  • John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band – Live in Toronto ’69

    1969

    John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band at the 1969 Toronto Rock n Roll Revival Festival.

  • The Who's Keith Moon at Monterey Pop

    Monterey Pop

    1968

    Summer of Love, the first Pop Music Festival featuring Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Otis Redding, the Mamas and Papas and others.

  • Hickory Hill

    1968

    George Plimpton attends the 1968 annual spring pet show, emceed by Art Buchwald, at the Robert F. Kennedy estate in Virginia.

  • RainForest

    1968

    Merce Cunningham Ballet. Music by David Tudor. Set Design by Andy Warhol.

  • Chiefs

    1968

    Police chiefs at their 1968 convention in Waikiki, discuss Black Panthers, the Chicago Democratic Convention, and the latest weaponry.

  • Two American Audiences

    1968

    Jean-Luc Godard at NYU on filmmaking and politics.

  • Dont Look Back

    1967

    Cinema verite portrait of Bob Dylan on tour in England in 1965 with Joan Baez, Alan Price, and Bob Neuwirth.

  • A Stravinsky Portrait

    1965

    The composer discusses creativity and his work. A film by Richard Leacock.

  • Jingle Bells

    1964

    The Robert F. Kennedy, his family, and Sammy Davis Jr. celebrate Christmas 1964 with New York City school children.

  • Campaign Manager

    1964

    Follows young Republican campaign manager, John Grenier as he plots the 1964 presidential primaries for candidate Barry Goldwater.

  • Lambert & Co.

    1964

    Dave Lambert, of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, with his newly formed quintet auditioning for RCA in 1964.

  • You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You

    You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You

    1964

    Counter culture guru, Timothy Leary, marries a beautiful Baroness-model (Uma Thurman’s mother).

  • Happy Mother’s Day

    1963

    How the birth of the Fischer quints affected their hometown, Aberdeen, South Dakota, and above all, Mrs. Fischer.

  • Anatomy of Cindy Fink

    Anatomy of Cindy Fink

    1960

    Ricky Leacock and Joyce Chopra’s 1965 cinéma vérité portrait of a teenage girl’s first jazz dance audition in a Greenwich Village studio.

  • Breaking It Up at the Museum

    Breaking It Up at the Museum

    1960

    Artist Jean Tinguely deconstructs his famous kinetic sculpture in the garden of The Museum of Modern Art.

  • Opening In Moscow

    1959

    A 1959 color film of the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, site of the famous Nixon-Khrushchev “kitchen debates”, and a rare look at daily life in Moscow.

  • Baby

    1954

    Pennebaker’s first cinéma vérité film with daughter Stacy at the Central Park merry-go-round.

  • Daybreak Express

    Daybreak Express

    1953

    Pennebaker’s first movie; a 1954 New York subway ride scored with Duke Ellington’s eponymous song.

Town Bloody Hall: Live at the Town Hall

On April 30th, 1971, Norman Mailer, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, Diane Trilling, and Jacqueline Ceballos participated in a a panel on women’s liberation at The Town Hall. Join filmmaker Chris Hegedus and Dr. Mia Mask in a conversation about the Criterion Collection’s release of the documentary Town Bloody Hall.

Pure Non Fiction podcast logo

Chris and Penny on Pure Nonfiction

Check out Chris and Penny discussing everything from the David Bowie to animal rights and their partnership over the past 40 years on the most recent episode of Pure Nonfiction hosted by Thom Powers. The interview was recorded in May at the Montclair Film Festival’s Audible Lounge before a live audience. Listen to the podcast […]

Unlocking the Cage
a documentary by Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker

stevenwise

“They used to bark at me when I walked into the courtroom” says renowned animal rights attorney Steven Wise. After 30 years of preparation, Steve and his legal team, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), are making history by filing the first lawsuits to transform an animal from a thing with no rights to a person with legal protections.

Unlocking the Cage documents Steve’s unprecedented legal challenge to break down the wall that separates animals from humans. Steve argues that based on scientific evidence cognitively complex animals such as chimpanzees, whales, dolphins, and elephants have the capacity for fundamental personhood rights (such as bodily liberty) that would protect them from physical abuse. For the past two years, we have followed Steve and his team on their journey, from developing their legal strategy to discovering the perfect chimpanzee plaintiffs confined in private homes and roadside zoos.  Read On

 

Al Maysles

  My friendship with Al was forged during four months of filming together, just the two of us, in Russia in 1959. When he got a camera against his eye, he was one of the world’s great watchers, and I knew we would always be filmmaking companions.   – D A Pennebaker   “Albert Maysles, […]

Wanted: A New Home for the Pennebaker Hegedus Archive

The New York Times just published an article about our search for a home for our archive and films. The article was printed in the Arts sections of Tuesday October 28th’s edition, and also appears online via this link. If you read the article online, you will be able to watch a short video with […]

STF Fall Season Tribute to D.A. Pennebaker & Chris Hegedus Begins

This fall Stranger Than Fiction Docs at NYC’s IFC Center is screening eight films from Pennebaker Hegedus. This is the first time that STF has devoted its entire season to one filmmaking team. Chris and D A will attend most of the screenings for Q&As (please check website for latest info), and tickets for the […]

 

On April 30th, 1971, Norman Mailer, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, Diane Trilling, and Jacqueline Ceballos participated in a a panel on women’s liberation at The Town Hall. Join filmmaker Chris Hegedus and Dr. Mia Mask in a conversation about the Criterion Collection’s release of the documentary Town Bloody Hall.