RIP D.A. Pennebaker, Pioneer Documentary Filmmaker
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/da-pennebaker-dead-documentary-legend-was-94-817392
This quote describes a fraction of his work, the full obit has much more detail and links.
In his widely praised documentary Dont Look Back (Pennebaker said he left out the apostrophe in the first word on purpose), he followed Dylan during his 1965 tour of England as the musician was making the eventful transition from an acoustic folk singer to an electric rock act.
"I was never interested in educating people about Dylan. ... What I wanted to do was just be present when Dylan enacted his life and show you what he deals with and what interests him," he once said.
Regarding Dylan's reaction to the film, Pennebaker told Time in 2007: "He saw it out in Hollywood at a dreadful screening. Afterward, he said, 'We'll have another screening and I'll write down all of the things we have to change.' Of course, that made me a little gloomy. The next night, we assembled again and he sat in the front with this yellow pad. At the end of the film, he held up the pad and there was nothing on it. He said, 'That's it.'"
For The War Room, an Oscar nominee for best documentary, Pennebaker and Hegedus examined Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign against incumbent George H.W. Bush. Since the filmmakers didn't have access to Clinton himself, the project focused on the political strategies orchestrated by campaign manager James Carville and communications director George Stephanopoulos.
War Room is credited with making stars out of the two. Carville has had guest appearances in a number of films and TV shows (The People vs. Larry Flynt, Old School, Mad About You) and was the political advisor to Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign, and Stephanopoulos hosts ABC's This Week and is the co-host of Good Morning America.
To check out Pennebaker's work, watch his first film, the five-minute short "Daybreak Express" (1953), in which he turned grubby elevated trains in NYC into art https://vimeo.com/16674798
Or, try this version of Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYajHZ4QUVM which I believe is from "Dont Look Back".
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