Unlocking the Cage follows animal rights lawyer Steven Wise in his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans.
16 chefs. 3 days. 1 chance. It’s not a dream; it’s an obsession. The 2007 Meilleurs Ouvriers de France.
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.
Franken transforms from political satirist to political pundit on Air America Radio.
Broadway legend Elaine Stritch, on stage and off, remembers her life in the theater in her Tony winning show.
A Celebration of Soul Music with Sam Moore, Rufus Thomas, Wilson Pickett, Isaac Hayes, and more.
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 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.
A backstage view of TV legend Carol Burnett’s return to Broadway in the 1995 farce “Moon Over Buffalo” written by Ken Ludwig.
Portrait of beloved choreography teacher Bessie Schonberg teaching at Juilliard, Dance Theater Workshop and Jacob’s Pillow.
A musical portrait of Victoria Williams singing her 1987 debut album “Happy Come Home” in Los Angeles and her hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana.
A feature-length documentary following Marius Muller-Westernhagen as he tours for his 1994 platinum album, “Affentheater.
James Carville and George Stephanopoulos and the War Room team during the 1992 presidential election campaign.
Brandford Marsalis on tour with Jeff Tain Watts and Bob Hurst, in the recording studio, teaching, and jamming with Sting and the Grateful Dead.
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.
The entire original performance of Little Richard at Toronto’s Rock and Roll Revival in 1969.
A 1969 musical portrait of Jerry Lee Lewis, the most electrifying and talented artist in Rock and Roll history.
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.
A musical portrait of singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega at home, rehearsing in New York, and on tour in England.
Otis Redding’s complete, electrifying performance at the historic Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
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.
Brooklyn Academy of Music’s three-day festival celebrating the roots of Black Dance.
A historic 1971 performance of Samuel Beckett’s “Krapp’s Last Tape” directed by Alan Schneider and starring Jack MacGowran.
DeLorean and team move from boardroom to assembly line creating his stainless steel gull-wing-door sports car in Northern Ireland.
Actress Billie Whitelaw in Alan Schneider’s production of a Samuel Beckett play.
Renowned composer Elliott Carter rehearses and conducts his acclaimed masterpiece “The Double Concerto” performed by Ursula Oppens.
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.
London 1973, Bowie’s last performance as Ziggy Stardust.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in 1969.
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).
Norman Mailer and Germaine Greer’s legendary 1971 Women’s Lib debate at Town Hall theater in NYC.
Alice Cooper and band’s first performance, organized by Frank Zappa, at the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival.
“Company” documents the grueling 1969 recording session for the Stephen Sondheim musical. Features Elaine Stritch’s show-stopping “Ladies Who Lunch.”
The 1970 debutante-queen of Apollo, an exclusive New Orleans Mardi Gras ball, on her big night.
John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band at the 1969 Toronto Rock n Roll Revival Festival.
Summer of Love, the first Pop Music Festival featuring Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Otis Redding, the Mamas and Papas and others.
George Plimpton attends the 1968 annual spring pet show, emceed by Art Buchwald, at the Robert F. Kennedy estate in Virginia.
Merce Cunningham Ballet. Music by David Tudor. Set Design by Andy Warhol.
Police chiefs at their 1968 convention in Waikiki, discuss Black Panthers, the Chicago Democratic Convention, and the latest weaponry.
Jean-Luc Godard at NYU on filmmaking and politics.
Cinema verite portrait of Bob Dylan on tour in England in 1965 with Joan Baez, Alan Price, and Bob Neuwirth.
The composer discusses creativity and his work. A film by Richard Leacock.
The Robert F. Kennedy, his family, and Sammy Davis Jr. celebrate Christmas 1964 with New York City school children.
Follows young Republican campaign manager, John Grenier as he plots the 1964 presidential primaries for candidate Barry Goldwater.
Dave Lambert, of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, with his newly formed quintet auditioning for RCA in 1964.
Counter culture guru, Timothy Leary, marries a beautiful Baroness-model (Uma Thurman’s mother).
How the birth of the Fischer quints affected their hometown, Aberdeen, South Dakota, and above all, Mrs. Fischer.
Ricky Leacock and Joyce Chopra’s 1965 cinéma vérité portrait of a teenage girl’s first jazz dance audition in a Greenwich Village studio.
Artist Jean Tinguely deconstructs his famous kinetic sculpture in the garden of The Museum of Modern Art.
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.
Pennebaker’s first cinéma vérité film with daughter Stacy at the Central Park merry-go-round.
Pennebaker’s first movie; a 1954 New York subway ride scored with Duke Ellington’s eponymous song.
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.
As part of Hot Docs 2018 – Special Events & Big Ideas Series, The War Room will screen on Sunday April 29th at 3:45pm at the Isabel Bader Theatre.
Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviewed Pennebaker along with two of the film’s cameramen Jim Desmond and Nick Proferes on June 14, 2017 at the IFC Center in front of a live audience.
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 […]
For more on Tracey and Jon Stewart at the screening of Unlocking the Cage at the Montclair Film Festival… http://montclairfilmfest.org/2016/05/jon-tracey-stewart-at-mff16/
“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
For anyone in New York on November 5th, come join us at the Paul Stuart store on Madison Avenue. Can’t wait to see you there!
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, […]
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 […]
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.