Past screening

Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back

Directed by: D. A. Pennebaker
Runtime: 1hr 36min Year: 1967
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Details

Directed by: D. A. Pennebaker
Runtime: 1hr 36min Year: 1967
Country: United States
Last Screened: Wed 17th Jul 2013

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. Its handheld black-and-white images and often-gritty London backdrops suggest cinematic extensions of the archetypal monochrome portraits that graced Dylan’s career-making early-’60s album jackets.

Pennebaker’s access to the legendarily private troubadour enables us to witness Dylan’s shifting moods as he performs, relaxes with his entourage, and jousts with other musicians, fans, and press.