Chris Hegedus

Last updated
Chris Hegedus
Chris Hegedus (26601245340).jpg
Chris Hegedus at the Montclair Film Festival 2016.
Born (1952-04-23) April 23, 1952 (age 71)
Occupation(s)Documentarian, Filmmaker
Years active1970s–present
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1982;died 2019)​
Website http://www.phfilms.com/

Chris Hegedus (born April 23, 1952) is an American documentary filmmaker. She and her husband, filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, founded the company Pennebaker Hegedus Films.

Contents

Hegedus was nominated for an Academy Award for The War Room , a behind-the-scenes film about President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. [1] The film also won the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures prize for Best Documentary. [1] In 2001, she was awarded the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for Startup.com. [2] The film is a boom-bust story of two young internet entrepreneurs, co-produced with Jehane Noujaim. Hegedus was also the recipient of CINE's Golden Eagle Award, an Emmy Award, and lifetime achievement awards from several organizations including the International Documentary Association. [3] Her films include the 2010 feature release, Kings of Pastry , about the legendary French pastry competition, the Meilleur Ouvrier de France. [4] In 2011, Hegedus received the Athena Film Festival Award for Exemplary Directing.

Biography

Hegedus studied Fine Arts at the Hartford Art School and graduated in 1973 from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in photography and experimental film making. [5] Afterward, she moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and began shooting films for the University of Michigan Burn Center. In 1975, she moved to a loft in New York City and worked as a cinematographer on independent films including Lizzie Borden's feminist feature, Born in Flames. [6] The following year she began her first collaboration with D. A. Pennebaker as editor of the feature-length film, Town Bloody Hall , a chronicle of the legendary "battle of the sexes" between Norman Mailer, Germaine Greer and other feminists which took place in 1971 at The Town Hall in New York City. [7] The film became the basis for the play The Town Hall Affair by The Wooster Group in 2017. [8]

In 1977, Hegedus, Pennebaker and Pat Powell co-directed and edited The Energy War, a three-part special for PBS that focuses on the historic legislative battle to pass President Jimmy Carter's Energy Bill. [9] The film was cited by the Kennedy School of Government as "one of the best films on government."

From this point on, Hegedus and Pennebaker became partners co-directing, shooting, and editing films – they married in 1982. [7] Together, they directed a host of films including: DeLorean, a profile of automobile entrepreneur John DeLorean as he develops his stainless steel gull-winged car in Northern Ireland; Rockaby, a play that Samuel Beckett wrote specifically for their project with his muse, actress Billie Whitelaw; and Moon Over Broadway, a back-stage view of Carol Burnett's tumultuous return to Broadway, which is cited by The New York Times as a "NYT Critics' Pick." [10]

The company has devoted much of its creative energy towards short and feature-length films about music. [11] Their 1979 short of Randy Newman's song "Baltimore" predates MTV and was one of the templates of the music video format. In 1989, they released the theatrical feature 101 for Warner Music. In a style later popularized in the TV reality series Real Life', the film followed the popular English band Depeche Mode and a bus full of fans across the country to their final Rose Bowl concert. Other music-related films include profiles of songwriter Victoria Williams, Branford Marsalis, and Suzanne Vega. [12] Searching For Jimi Hendrix features eleven musical acts, including Los Lobos, Laurie Anderson, Chuck D, and Rosanne Cash interpreting Jimi Hendrix in their own styles. [13]

In 2000, for Miramax Films, Hegedus and Pennebaker directed Only the Strong Survive , a soulful musical tribute with Isaac Hayes, Wilson Pickett, Rufus Thomas, Sam Moore, Mary Wilson of The Supremes, Jerry Butler and others. [14] Down From the Mountain, the 2001 companion concert film to the Coen brothers' release, O Brother, Where Art Thou? , features some of the most talented bluegrass performers of our times, including Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Gillian Welch. [13]

Together with Nick Doob, Hegedus and Pennebaker filmed several specials for HBO, including Elaine Stritch at Liberty , which won a 2004 Emmy Award for Best Music, Comedy or Variety Show; the comedy Assume the Position with Robert Wuhl; and a segment of Addiction. [15] [16]

For the Sundance Channel, Hegedus filmed Michael Stipe, Bruce Springsteen and others for the 2004 Vote For Change concert, and directed Fox vs. Franken for Sundance's First Amendment series. [17] In 2006, Hegedus theatrically released, Al Franken: God Spoke . Co-directed with Nick Doob, the film follows the political satirist Al Franken's personal transformation from comedy to politics. [18] Following the 2010 completion of Kings of Pastry , Hegedus and Pennebaker co-directed the live YouTube broadcast of the National's May 2010 benefit concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. [19]

In 2016 Hegedus directed Unlocking the Cage about animal rights attorney Steven M. Wise and the Nonhuman Rights Project's legal challenge for personhood rights for chimpanzees. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival was nominated for an Emmy Award and broadcasts on HBO.

Hegedus has lectured on documentary film in colleges around the country. She taught film at Yale University for eight years and received their Film Studies Award. [5]

Pennebaker Hegedus Films

Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker co-founded the company Pennebaker Hegedus Films. [20] The company is managed by Frazer Pennebaker who has served as the producer on all of their films since the mid-eighties. [20] In addition to his role as producer, Frazer oversees film distribution and sales for the company. [21]

Process and style

Hegedus and Pennebaker's films are done in the Direct Cinema style. "Voice-of-God" narration is avoided, as are formal "Talking Head" interviews. A mobile hand-held camera and diegetic sound are also characteristic. Usually Direct Cinema films show us the "back stage", be it of the Rolling Stones as in Gimme Shelter, or JFK in Primary, or Bob Dylan. The stylistic concerns of Hegedus and Pennebaker place them in the legacy of Direct Cinema along with Robert Dew, Richard Leacock, and the Maysles brothers. [20]

Filmography

Related Research Articles

Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subjects hidden behind reality. It is sometimes called observational cinema, if understood as pure direct cinema: mainly without a narrator's voice-over. There are subtle, yet important, differences between terms expressing similar concepts. Direct cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera's presence: operating within what Bill Nichols, an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the "observational mode", a fly on the wall. Many therefore see a paradox in drawing attention away from the presence of the camera and simultaneously interfering in the reality it registers when attempting to discover a cinematic truth.

<i>The War Room</i> 1993 American film

The War Room is a 1993 American documentary film about Bill Clinton's campaign for President of the United States during the 1992 United States presidential election. Directed by Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker, the film was released on December 5, 1993. It was eventually nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. A. Pennebaker</span> American documentary filmmaker (1925–2019)

Donn Alan Pennebaker was an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of direct cinema. Performing arts and politics were his primary subjects. In 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award. Pennebaker was called by The Independent as "arguably the pre-eminent chronicler of Sixties counterculture".

<i>Startup.com</i> 2001 documentary film

Startup.com is a 2001 American documentary film directed by Jehane Noujaim and Chris Hegedus. D. A. Pennebaker served as a producer on the film. It follows the dot-com start-up govWorks.com, which raised $60 million in funding from Hearst Interactive Media, KKR, the New York Investment Fund, and Sapient.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elaine Stritch</span> American actress (1925–2014)

Elaine Stritch was an American actress, known for her work on Broadway and later, television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films and television series. Stritch was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995.

<i>101</i> (album) 1989 live album by Depeche Mode

101 is a live album and documentary film by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 13 March 1989 by Mute Records. It chronicles the final leg of the band's Music for the Masses Tour and the final show on 18 June 1988 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Levin</span> American film director

Marc Levin is an American independent film producer and director. He is best known for his Brick City TV series, which won the 2010 Peabody award and was nominated for an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking and his dramatic feature film, Slam, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Caméra d'Or at Cannes in 1998. He also has received three Emmy Awards and the 1997 DuPont-Columbia Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Full Frame Documentary Film Festival</span> Film festival

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AFI Docs</span> Annual documentary film festival

The AFI Docs documentary film festival was an American international film festival. Created by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel, it was held annually in Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington, D.C., from 2003 to 2022, when it was merged into AFI Fest, a Los Angeles-based film festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Run Features</span>

First Run Features is an independent film distribution company based in New York City.

Andy Picheta is a director and producer of film and television, music videos and musical concerts.

Habib Azar is an American film, theater and television director based in New York City. He married his wife, Carla Azar, in 2011, and has two children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Sanders (producer)</span>

Scott Sanders is an Emmy-, Grammy-, and Tony-winning American television producer, film producer and theatre producer. His theatrical musical version of Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple, for which he was Lead Producer alongside co-producers Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones, premiered on Broadway in 2005, garnering 11 Tony Award Nominations including Best Musical.

<i>Elaine Stritch at Liberty</i> One-woman stage show

Elaine Stritch at Liberty is an autobiographical one-woman show written by Elaine Stritch and John Lahr, and produced by George C. Wolf, which is composed of anecdotes from Stritch's life, as well as showtunes and Broadway standards that mirror Stritch’s rise and fall both on and off the stage.

<i>Kings of Pastry</i> 2009 American film

Kings of Pastry is a film by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus that follows a group of world-class French pastry chefs as they compete for France's most prestigious craftsmen award: Meilleur Ouvrier de France, awarded by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The competition, which takes place in Lyon, France, features a diverse range of creative trade professions, from carpentry to jewelry design to pastry making. The honor of wearing the blue, white and red striped collar given to the winners is considered to be the ultimate recognition of excellence in the pastry field. The film focuses primarily on Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, co-founder of Chicago’s French Pastry School, and one of the sixteen finalist chefs competing — the sixteen finalists were selected from eighty semi-finalists during the semi-final rounds that took place in the months prior to the final competition.

"The Ladies Who Lunch" is a song from the Broadway musical Company, sung by the character Joanne. It was written by Stephen Sondheim, and was introduced by Elaine Stritch. It became her signature song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sébastien Canonne</span> French pastry chef

Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F. is a French pastry chef and co-founder of the French Pastry School in Chicago, the Butter Book online platform, and EQUII. In 2004, he earned the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France. In 2012, he was named a knight by the French government in the Order of Academic Palms, and in 2015, in the National Order of the Legion of Honour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacquy Pfeiffer</span> French master pastry chef and teacher (born 1961)

Jacquy Pfeiffer is a French master pastry chef and teacher. He co-founded the French Pastry School in Chicago, and co-authored The Art of French Pastry cookbook. He is the primary subject of the 2010 documentary Kings of Pastry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Z Weinstein</span> American filmmaker

Joshua Z Weinstein is an American independent filmmaker based in New York City. He directed the A24 film Menashe (2017), and the feature documentaries Drivers Wanted (2012) and Flying on One Engine (2008). His director of photography credits include Bikini Moon (2017), Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me (2013), and Code of the West (2012). Weinstein was nominated for Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards and Breakthrough Director at the Gotham Awards. He has been nominated for a Cannes Lion for his advertising work and won a first place POY for his work with The New York Times.

Original Cast Album: Company is a 1970 documentary film by D. A. Pennebaker, observing the marathon recording session to create the original cast album for the Stephen Sondheim musical Company.

References

  1. 1 2 "NY Times: The War Room". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2008. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  2. ↑ "Chris Hegedus Biography". PBS. Archived from the original on 5 September 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  3. ↑ "Kings of Pastry: Chris Hegedus Biography". PBS. Archived from the original on 5 September 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Kings of Pastry". Pennebaker Hegedus Films.
  5. 1 2 "Chris Hegedus". About.com. Archived from the original on 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
  6. ↑ "Filmbug Biography: Chris Hegedus". Filmbug. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  7. 1 2 "Chris Hegedus Biography". Pennebaker Hegedus Films.
  8. ↑ "Norman Mailer's Snarling Encounter with Feminism, Restaged In Trump's America" by Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker , February 23, 2017
  9. ↑ "The Energy War". Pennebaker Hegedus Films.
  10. ↑ Maslin, Janet (18 February 1998). "NY Times Film Review: Moon Over Broadway". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "Pennebaker Hegedus Films History". Pennebaker Hegedus Films.
  12. ↑ "D. A. Pennebaker". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  13. 1 2 "History". Pennebaker Hegedus Films.
  14. ↑ Melodi', Gatsby. "Only The Strong Survive". Afro American Syndicate. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  15. ↑ "New Video Chris Hegedus Biography". New Video. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  16. ↑ "Nick Doob Biography". Pennebaker Hegedus Films.
  17. ↑ "Chris Hegedus Kings of Pastry Bio". PBS POV Films. Archived from the original on 5 September 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  18. ↑ "Al Franken: God Spoke". Movie Fone. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  19. ↑ Pitchfork: D.A. Pennebaker to Direct the National
  20. 1 2 3 Weinreich, Regina (15 February 1998). "Independent Film Maker Keeps the Process All in the Family". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  21. ↑ "Frazer Pennebaker Biography". Pennebaker Hegedus Films.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.