Click here for a link to buy your tickets now!
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.
Click here for more information and ticket sales on the Hot Docs website.
Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Who are among the classic acts captured by D.A. Pennebaker in “Monterey Pop.” Now for the 50th anniversary of the concert, the film is being released in a new 4k restoration by The Criterion Collection and Janus Films. 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.
Listen to the podcast here: http://www.purenonfiction.net/pn-50-monterey-pop/
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.
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/
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!
On May 23rd, our 30 day online crowdfunding campaign for “Unlocking the Cage” came to an end. The campaign was a huge success, and we couldn’t be more thankful for all the support from our Kickstarter backers. Here is the update that we sent out to the backers on the day that the campaign wrapped up:
After an exhilarating four weeks, our Kickstarter campaign is finished and 116% funded! We are very grateful for the 768 of you, from around the world, who are joining us as we finish making Unlocking the Cage. Thank you so much for your generous support and the many words of encouragement that you’ve shared with us in person, in emails, and around web. With this incredible community behind the film, we are more confident than ever that Unlocking the Cage will push the conversation of how and why we should protect animals.
As many of you know, our films are about people who devote themselves to a singular pursuit and dream. Their passion, whether for music, or politics, or pastry-making, is extraordinary. With a mix of curiosity and awe, we accompany these individuals on their journeys and are plunged into their worlds. We like to joke that whenever we make a film, it’s like embarking on a new Phd degree. We always learn so much about these professions and are inspired by the people we’ve grown to admire.
In many ways, Unlocking the Cage is no different from our other films. For over thirty years Steve Wise has been dreaming of this moment: a courtroom scenario in which he pours out all his legal reasoning for chimpanzee personhood, with a chance (however slight) that it will be found reasonable and turned into law. We were invited to take our cameras and follow Steve into the courtroom, and how could we not be there and do it?
But what is different about this film is how we’ve been affected by what we’ve seen. We’ve been introduced to a different type of “person,” one who remains a mystery to all of us, and yet with whom we feel an inexplicable deep connection. Our experiences with these animals, the apes and elephants that Steve is fighting for, have moved us in ways that we never expected. From the moment Kanzi the bonobo used his computer lexicon board to ask Steve for a ball, to watching Merlin the chimpanzee grieving for his recently deceased companion, these moments shook us and have remained with us since. We don’t exactly know what we’ve seen, but we know that we’ve seen someone who, like us, feels joy, pain, and empathy.
After a lifetime of studying the natural world, Darwin concluded, “There is no fundamental difference between man and mammals in their higher faculties: reason, curiosity, memory, imagination, and problem solving.” Whether animals have a belief in a god, he couldn’t say, but he knew that they see beauty. After two years of making this film, we have to agree with him.
It amazes us how in such a short amount of time, Steve has gone from being “barked” out of courtrooms to appearing on the cover of The New York Times Sunday Magazine. His once quixotic dream has reached our society at a critical turning point in our relationship with the environment and the other beings with whom we share this planet. Just as our team has learned so much about law and animal cognition, we as a society are continuing to learn more and more about animals, too. What we’re going to learn about them in the upcoming years is going to shake us even more.
And so with this in mind, and with a burst of new energy, we are ready to plunge back into making Unlocking the Cage. We hope that you will stay with us as we go forward with Steve and the film, and we will continue to use our Kickstarter page to share updates and stories about the project.
Thank you again for jumping into this with us. There’s much that we have to do, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without you.
Chris, Penny, Frazer, Rosadel, and Julia
Want to be a part of our new film “Unlocking the Cage“? Visit our Kickstarter campaign where you can learn more about the film and watch our campaign video. And if you make a pledge to the project and join our team, you can choose from any number of Pennebaker Hegedus-related rewards.
Order the Blu-Ray or DVD from the edition Criterion Collection
D A Pennebaker’s classic film, Dont Look Back, is now available in a new high-definition transfer on Blu-Ray with lossless DTS-HD audio.
Dont Look Back has “gotten better as a home-video experience, compliments of its new high-def format…4 out of 4 stars.” – Mike Scott, The Times-Picayune
“Seminal. Not only cemented the musician’s status as an icon of sixties cool; it’s also a crash course in the breathtaking immediacy of vérité filmmaking.” – New York magazine
“If the art of being cool could be learned from a film, then the only one you’d ever need to study would be Dont Look Back.” – Angela Ashman, The Village Voice
“Evokes the 60s like few other documents; Dylan’s relentless heaping of scorn on the mainstream press, before the coercive tentacles of ‘creative management’ made such things virtually impossible, is especially telling… Memorable for its goofy, syncopated opening sequence alone.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
“An unforgettable all-access pass behind the scenes of Bob Dylan’s ’65 British tour, D.A. Pennebaker’s landmark 1967 rock doc all but invented the form while presaging the music video… The concert footage of the young Dylan in his punky prime is electrifying, but the most fun comes from the privileged glimpses of his sadistic wit.” – Jim Ridley, The Village Voice
Now available from Amazon.com
As we prepare to welcome in 2009, our thoughts and wishes go out to our good friend AL FRANKEN, who has pulled ahead of Norm Coleman in the vote recount for the Minnesota Senate seat. We’re with you, Al!
Click HERE to find out more.
See you all in 2009!
Tickets are on sale now for The Return of The War Room at the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival in East Hampton, NY. The movie will have two screenings:
Fri, Oct 17th 8:30pm
United Artists Cinema 5
Sat, Oct 18th 7:00pm
United Artists Cinema 5
Click here to purchase tickets.
Pennebaker Hegedus Films‘ and McEttinger Films‘ newest release, The RETURN of THE WAR ROOM, premieres TONIGHT at the PALEY CENTER for MEDIA, at 7pm. Click here for directions, tickets, and more info.
Hope to see you there!
The RETURN of THE WAR ROOM will also be airing on the Sundance Channel on Monday, October 13th, at 9PM EST.
16 years after making THE WAR ROOM, Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker’s 1992 Oscar-nominated documentary following Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, the filmmakers reunite with James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, Mary Matalin, Paul Begala, Bob Boorstin, Dee Dee Myers, and others to reflect on the changes in American politics and political campaigns over the last 16 years, and to look back on the election that launched them all into the national political spotlight. The RETURN of THE WAR ROOM is a highly entertaining and in-depth look at the evolution of American politics, including commentary and insight on the current presidential campaigns.
Last week, Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker presented their new film, THE RETURN OF THE WAR ROOM to students at Flashpoint Academy in Chicago. 16 years after they made THE WAR ROOM, Hegedus and Pennebaker’s 1992 Oscar-nominated documentary following Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, the filmmakers reunited with James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, Mary Matalin, Paul Begala, Bob Boorstin, Dee Dee Myers, and others to reflect on the changes in American politics and political campaigns over the last 16 years.
THE RETURN OF THE WAR ROOM will premiere on Sundance Channel on October 13th at 9PM, followed by THE WAR ROOM.
Read more about THE RETURN OF THE WAR ROOM here and here.
Hard to believe that today marks the 20th anniversary of Depeche Mode’s concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. That show was the culmination of not one, but two wild bus tour across America – one convoy with the band, and one with a group of teenagers who’d won a dance contest to see their favorite band play their final show on the US tour. It was an amazing journey for everyone, and one of the greatest music experiences we’ve ever had both as fans and as filmmakers.
Watch some concert footage from the June 18, 1988 Pasadena show:
We would like to extend our congratulations to Al Franken on receiving the Democratic Party’s endorsement. Franken is now the Democratic nominee for the US Senate race in Minnesota.
Click HERE to see an interview with Franken from NPR/Twin Cities Public Television.
NPR also has a cool, interactive map HERE that covers all of the 2008 US Elections. See how your candidate’s doing in every state.
And, of course, check out the official AL FRANKEN FOR SENATE website.
Like all of you, we were very sad to receive news of Bo Diddley‘s passing on Monday. Bo continually took the concept of being a “self-made man” one step further – as the New York Times put it, he “invented his own name, his own guitars, his own beat and, with a handful of other musical pioneers, rock ’n’ roll itself.”
In 1969, D A Pennebaker went to Toronto to film the Sweet Toronto Peace Festival, which featured the ‘fearsome four’ of rock’n’roll: Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard – and a surprise performance by John Lennon’s brand-new Plastic Ono Band. The resulting film became known as Sweet Toronto (Keep On Rockin’). Bo’s electrified performance at the start of the film, getting the crowd moving and shaking. Getting them rocking. To us, that’s what Bo was all about: spreading the pure joy of rock’n’roll.
Go here to read the full NY Times obituary for Bo Diddley.
If you’re in the Boston area this week, the Harvard Film Archive will screen two films made by D A Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, and Jean-Luc Godard: 1 PM and 2 AMERICAN AUDIENCES. These rare films capture a unique view of New York in 1968, a highly politicized time. We hope you’ll take advantage of this great opportunity to see them at the Harvard Film Archive’s new series, “Godard, Gorin, Garrel and the Grin Without a Cat.”
MORE INFO, TICKETS, AND DIRECTIONS FOR: “Godard, Gorin, Garrel and the Grin Without a Cat.“