IDA Conversation Series: Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker

The IDA Conversation Series invites you to spend an evening with two of the documentary world's leading lights -- the pioneering filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker. The evening will feature a clips program and a lively conversation with Hegedus and Pennebaker.

It is no stretch to say that Hegedus and Pennebaker have reinvented the form of documentary storytelling. Pennebaker, who was awarded a lifetime achievement Oscar® in 2012, helped build the first fully portable 16mm camera, working alongside Robert Drew, Richard Leacock and Albert Maysles to make the thrilling immediacy of the cinema verite movement possible. His early films include the legendary Bob Dylan documentary Dont Look Back and the exhilarating concert film Monterey Pop.

Since beginning their creative partnership in 1976, Hegedus and Pennebaker have collaborated on a number of immersive documentaries, including the Academy Award®-nominated The War Room, about Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, the concert film Depeche Mode 101, and more recently Kings of Pastry and this year's Unlocking the Cage. Together, they received the IDA Career Achievement Award in 2005.

Working with Jehane Noujaim, Hegedus won the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and an IDA award for Startup.com, a riveting story of entrepreneurship during the first dot-com boom.

"I don't know what I want to know when I start filming," Pennebaker has said. Don't miss your chance to hear Hegedus and Pennebaker discuss their process of turning openness, curiosity, and hundreds of hours of fly-on-the-wall footage into rich, sophisticated, and entertaining documentary films.

In addition, you are invited to join us at Cinefamily in West Hollywood on Tuesday, November 22 at 7:30pm for a screening of Hegedus and Pennebaker's 1979 Town Bloody Hall, their unforgettable account of a live debate between Norman Mailer and four feminist icons.