Music

D.A. Pennebaker Set To Direct The National

by Ciaran Thompson

On May 15  The National will play a benefit show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the Red Hot Organization, an AIDS charity. Members Aaron and Bryce Dessner produced a compilation album last year entitled Dark Was The Night that helped raise money for the same charity. Now the band have enlisted the help of filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, known for creating quite possibly the best music documentary following Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour with Don’t Look Back, to film the event.

The show will be shown live on YouTube and will be available online for one month. Directing alongside Pennebaker will be his wife and frequent co-director Chris Hegedus. This marks the first time the two have directed a live show and before The National’s performance, a short film of theirs will be shown.

Pennebaker’s impressive resume also includes the festival doc Monterey Pop, Sweet Toronto and David Bowie’s concert film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. The National’s upcoming album, their fifth, High Violet drops next Monday.