--- title: Rory Kennedy Remembers Documentary Pioneer D.A. Pennebaker description: D.A. Pennebaker, who died on Aug. 1 at 94, made monumental contributions to the field of documentary filmmaking. canonical: https://time.com/5647327/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance/ author: Rory Kennedy article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-08-08T09:40:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T00:11:35.899Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Rory Kennedy Remembers Documentary Pioneer D.A. Pennebaker og:description: D.A. Pennebaker died on Aug. 1 at 94 og:url: https://time.com/5647327/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42f9b9dd38f39dba/698a0118b3fce35a270c5592/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance-social.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rory Kennedy Remembers Documentary Pioneer D.A. Pennebaker twitter:description: D.A. Pennebaker died on Aug. 1 at 94 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42f9b9dd38f39dba/698a0118b3fce35a270c5592/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance-social.jpg?branch=production ---  # Rory Kennedy Remembers Documentary Pioneer D.A. Pennebaker by [Rory Kennedy](https://time.com/author/rory-kennedy/) ## Rory Kennedy Aug 8, 2019 9:40 AM UTC  Pennebaker in 1967, the year his film Dont Look Back was released. Pennebaker in 1967, the year his film Dont Look Back was released.Everett Collection by [Rory Kennedy](https://time.com/author/rory-kennedy/) ## Rory Kennedy Aug 8, 2019 9:40 AM UTC D.A. Pennebaker, who died on Aug. 1 at 94, made monumental contributions to the field of documentary filmmaking. My own gratitude for his work is personal as well as professional: his free-moving camera captured not only our nation’s history, but also my family’s. Early in his career, he was part of the team that made Primary, which documented my uncle John F. Kennedy’s and his opponent Hubert Humphrey’s presidential campaigns over five days during the 1960 Wisconsin Democratic primary. Using the newly developed sync sound camera, Penny moved with his subjects in real time. A few years later, in Crisis, he helped chronicle President Kennedy and my father, then Attorney General Robert Kennedy, battling with Governor George Wallace over school desegregation. A truly groundbreaking artist, Penny carved a new road for future cinema verité directors and created innovative narrative structures now ubiquitous in cinema and television. I will always treasure my friendship with him and with his wife, partner and fellow documentarian Chris Hegedus. He left future generations the gift of his work, and the world of film infinitely richer for his having been in it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5647327/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5647327/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance/"},"headline":"Rory Kennedy Remembers Documentary Pioneer D.A. Pennebaker","datePublished":"2019-08-08T09:40:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T00:11:35.899Z","description":"Documentary pioneer","url":"https://time.com/5647327/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance/","keywords":["remembrance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42f9b9dd38f39dba/698a0118b3fce35a270c5592/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance-social.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rory Kennedy","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rory-kennedy/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42f9b9dd38f39dba/698a0118b3fce35a270c5592/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance-social.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance","caption":"Pennebaker in 1967, the year his film Dont Look Back was released.","creditText":"Everett Collection","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5647327/rory-kennedy-d-a-pennebaker-remembrance/","name":"Rory Kennedy Remembers Documentary Pioneer D.A. Pennebaker"}}]}] ```