Dylan pal looks back for film fest

D.A. Pennebaker, music documentary superstar, hosted a screening of his seminal film, Don't Look Back, as the fourth event in the MICA/Maryland Film Festival Spring Film Series Reality, on Monday, March 21. The series runs through April 25 and brings several standout documentary films and their directors to Baltimore.

For those not in the know, Don't Look Back follows Dylan on his first tour of England in 1965, offering a rare and authentic glance into the young artist's offstage life. The film begins with the classic pop culture image of Dylan, awkward and seemingly unrehearsed, flipping placards with the lyrics to "Subterranean Homesick Blues" as the song plays and Allen Ginsberg stands in the background. The camera follows Dylan through hotel rooms, concerts, interviews, car rides, jam sessions, and arguments, offering an intimate and organic look into the days when popular artists were not quite so beholden to journalists and could smoke incessantly through press conferences. Don't Look Back also captures some funny off-the-cuff remarks by Dylan, including his response to the question, "When you meet somebody, what is your attitude toward them?": "I don't like them!"

The film's greatest strength is its showcase of several so-earnest-it-hurts moments: Joan Baez making faces, Dylan doing his best English accent ("Bloke. Blok. Blokh. Blech!"). Perhaps the most intimate and lovely moment in the film shows Dylan and Baez, sitting feet apart in the hotel room, she playing the guitar and singing, he clicking away on the typewriter and smoking. Moments like this are the film's greatest challenge and success, simultaneously documenting and constructing the atmosphere of the tour.

Pennebaker's commentary before and after the screening ranged from specific Q & A on the film itself to thoughts on the future trajectory of documentary film. On his role as a filmmaker, Pennebaker said, ""I think of myself not so much as a filmmaker, but as a playwright - only I'm not dealing with actors who behave themselves if you pay them enough; I'm dealing with people who never behave themselves." This promise of the unexpected steered Pennebaker towards the use of video, saying, "It wasn't better in the old days! Film was awful ... video is fantastic."

The film was shown on DVD, at Pennebaker's request, and he advised the audience to use video and newer technology whenever possible. The director spoke extensively on the importance of shooting spontaneously and organically, saying that in order to authentically document a moment or event, a hand-held video camera is better.

On method, he advocated a Zen-like objectivity: "Just learn to look through a camera the way a cat looks out the window ... When you look through a train window, you don't expect the trees to dance for you or the houses to fall down. You just watch the world go by." He also urged artists' independence from the hands that feeds them, describing himself as "a great admirer of Byron" due to the poet's rejection of the patronage artist's mentality. Pennebaker's thoughts on the role of the artist echo Dylan's own bristling against reporters' attempts to classify and contain him in the film.

Pennebaker also spoke on documentaries at large, saying that Michael Moore's "sweeping the yard" has energized public interest around the form. "Documentaries are films about what people want to know about," he said. "Evolution demands we know what's coming.... The only people who know what's coming are artists, and no one listens to them very much." When asked what Dylan's reaction to the film was, the director quoted, "It's the greatest documentary that ever been made. I'm just sorry it was about me."

The Reality film series has three more highlighted events lined up: Capturing the Friedmans, Imelda, and Michael Moore Hates America. For more information on tickets and screenings, see the Web site at http://www.mdfilmfest.com/documentary.html.