An Interview with Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker

by Dan Lybarger

Documentary filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker may not be household names, but their films have captured Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and future senator Al Franken as their stars were rising. Because the two have been making movies together and apart since 1954, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve seen some of their footage without even knowing it.

Donn Allen “Penny” Pennebaker was born in 1925 and has been making films since 1953. He edited the 1960 breakthrough documentary Primary, which captured the Wisconsin Democratic primary where Kennedy took on Hubert Humphrey. His 1967 documentary Don’t Look Back featured Bob Dylan touring England and giving reporters who hadn’t done their homework a much-needed scolding, while Monterrey Pop had star-making performances by Joplin, Hendrix and the Who.

DA Pennebaker filming Bob Dylan for Eat The Document

Pennebaker started working with Hegedus in the late 1970s and has been married to her ever since. The two have collaborated on The War Room, which chronicled Bill Clinton’s successful pursuit of the White House in 1992 and Moon over Broadway, which features Carol Burnett attempting a stage comeback. She also co-directed Startup.com, which unknowingly followed the demise of the dot.com bubble and Al Franken: God Spoke, which features the comedian becoming a forceful pundit.

Together the two have 90 years experience of making movies and have received an Oscar nomination for The War Room. They’ve also created thousands of indelible moments such as Dylan flipping signs to “Subterranean Homesick Blues” in Don’t Look Back and George Stephanopoulos calmly dressing down a Ross Perot operative in The War Room or David Bowie giving his last “Ziggy” concert in Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Their latest film Kings of Pastry proves that even cooking can be oddly engrossing even if you can’t try the dishes on screen. The two follow 16 chefs as they compete in the challenging Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (or Best Craftsmen in France) bake off. The event is held every four years, and only admits the best of the best as participants. The MOF is so prestigious that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on hand to help reward the winners with a coveted red, white and blue collar. If you see a chef wearing one of those, your mouth may never recover from the joy of what you’re about to eat.

These chefs don’t make mere cakes. These are often delicately crafted sculptures that take an astonishingly amount of practice and precision.

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