D.A. Pennebaker

Known for: Don't Look Back (1967); Direct Cinema documentary

D.A. Pennebaker was a founding practitioner of Direct Cinema — the American form of observational documentary that used lightweight 16mm cameras and sync sound to follow subjects without staging or narration. His Don't Look Back (1967), a documentary following Bob Dylan on his 1965 British tour, is the most widely seen film of the movement and established a form of celebrity access that has influenced documentary filmmaking ever since. He also made Monterey Pop (1968) and The War Room (1993), a portrait of the Clinton presidential campaign.