Wednesday, July 6 at 7:00pm | $12 |
Sonic Cinema Presents a double feature of two classic music documentaries – DON'T LOOK BACK + ZIGGY STARDUST – with legendary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker in attendance!
DON'T LOOK BACK
Both a classic documentary and a vital pop-cultural artifact, D.A. Pennebaker's portrait of Bob Dylan captures the seminal singer-songwriter on the cusp of his transformation from folk prophet to rock trendsetter. Shot during Dylan's 1965 British concert tour, DON'T LOOK BACK employs an edgy vérité style that was, and is, a snug fit with the artist's own consciously rough-hewn persona.
ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS: THE MOVIE
During the 1970s, British glam rocker David Bowie's gender-bending style had a huge impact on popular culture. Widely known for his unique rock-and-roll characters and alter egos, Bowie put on a legendary live show. Director D.A. Pennebaker captures Bowie's most famous character -- Ziggy Stardust, the rock star from Mars -- as he performs for the last time. At the time, many thought this 1973 London show would be Bowie's swan song as well.
D.A. PENNEBAKER
In between the two films, there will be an onstage conversation with 90-year old D.A. Pennebaker, widely regarded as one of the pioneers of cinema verite filmmaking. In 2013 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Pennebaker’s body of work with an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. In the early sixties, Pennebaker and his colleague Richard Leacock developed one of the first fully portable 16mm synchronized camera and sound recording systems which revolutionized filmmaking and helped to created the immediate style of shooting so popular today. The filmmakers’ subjects ranged from the Broadway debut of Jane Fonda (JANE), to President Kennedy’s presidential primary run against Hubert Humphrey (PRIMARY), to the desegregation of the University of Alabama (CRISIS). In 1967, Pennebaker released the seminal film DON'T LOOK BACK, which followed Bob Dylan’s last acoustic concert tour in England. The film broke box office records and is considered a classic of both documentary and rock filmmaking.
Pennebaker’s next film, MONTEREY POP, was a record of the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival that launched the careers of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. A critical and commercial hit, MONTEREY POP was the progenitor of a host of rock documentaries, from Woodstock to Pennebaker’s own KEEP ON ROCKIN’ which featured rock n’ roll legends Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley; and ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS, Bowie’s final Ziggy performance.