Flashpoint Academy Pennebaker Visit in Chicago Tribune

SCREEN SCENE: Chicago wears several faces while filming 'Lucky Ones'

By Robert K. Elder | Tribune reporter
September 26, 2008


Pennebaker visits Chicago

Documentarian D.A. Pennebaker ("Don't Look Back") and wife/co-director Chris Hegedus visited Chicago's Flashpoint Academy Monday to screen "Return of the War Room," a follow-up to their 1993 Oscar-nominated documentary "The War Room," about Bill Clinton's presidential push in 1992.

"It seemed that this year, like 1992, is kind of a pivotal change election," said Hegedus.

The doc, which premieres Oct. 13, revisits political figures including James Carville, George Stephanopoulos and Mark McKinnon, current adviser to the McCain/Palin ticket.

"Only two of them are working directly with campaigns, but they are all political animals," Pennebaker said.

While in Chicago, the filmmakers held a fundraiser for their next film, about a famous French pastry competition, tentatively titled "The Collar," to be released in 2009.

The doc features chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, co-founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago, among others, at the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France contest in Lyon.

"They allowed us to film there, although very nervously, I'll tell you. [The competition] had never been filmed before," said Pennebaker.

As for the Chicago event, "It went very well," Pennebaker said. "They cooked up a storm. It just calls to mind how badly we are treated in America by cookie and dessert makers. But I guess we're used to it."