Directed by Robert Drew • 1960 • United States

Robert Drew’s groundbreaking 1960 film PRIMARY is one of the most important and influential documentaries in the history of the medium. A pioneering work in the documentary movement that came to be known as cinéma vérité, PRIMARY follows the young c...

Directed by Robert Drew • 1961 • United States

Cinéma vérité pioneer Robert Drew’s fascinating documentary ADVENTURES ON THE NEW FRONTIER offers a rare and candid glimpse inside the Oval Office as newly elected President John F. Kennedy goes about his daily work routine as America’s Chief Execut...

Directed by Robert Drew • 1963 • United States

CRISIS: BEHIND A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITMENT provided filmmaker Robert Drew, his crew and his audience the rare opportunity to watch a President of the United States deal with a national crisis. In this case, the crisis of the title was the attempted in...

Directed by Robert Drew • 1964 • United States

An intimate portrait of President John F. Kennedy’s funeral in November of 1963, this short work crafted by documentarian Robert Drew captures one of the most solemn moments in U.S. history.

In 1961, radio broadcaster and film critic Gideon Bachmann interviewed Drew Associates members Robert Drew, Richard Leacock, and D. A. Pennebaker about the new form of documentary they were in the midst of creating. Presented here, as an audio commentary to the original cut of PRIMARY, is an edit...

The hour-long PRIMARY was ahead of its time, and no broadcaster would touch it. After the possibility of the film’s being aired at a shorter length was raised, Robert Drew Associates team member Richard Leacock edited it down to a half hour overnight. Leacock and Drew were pleased with this new c...

Some of the biggest names in documentary history began at Drew Associates. This 2016 piece weaves together multiple interviews with filmmaker Robert Drew to present a portrait of the man who conceived a new way of creating nonfiction cinema, and then marshaled an amazing array of talent to realiz...

The following conversation between Drew Associates general manager Jill Drew and famed documentarian D. A. Pennebaker was recorded at Pennebaker’s offices in New York in December 2015. The two discuss the early days of Direct Cinema, working for Robert Drew, and the joys and challenges of filming...

There were many feet of exposed film not included in the final cut of CRISIS. In this 2016 documentary, historian Andrew Cohen, author of “Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History,” discusses what was and was not included in the film. Following Cohen’s discussion is a ...

Not just a big moment in JFK’s presidency, the University of Alabama’s integration was a landmark in the U.S. civil rights struggle. In this January 2016 conversation, Sharon Malone—sister of Vivian Malone, one of the two students in CRISIS—and her husband, former attorney general Eric Holder, di...

Often looked back on through rose-tinted glasses, the Kennedy administration was in fact a tumultuous time, full of missteps and crises. In this December 2015 interview, historian Richard Reeves, author of “President Kennedy: Profile of Power,” discusses John F. Kennedy’s primary campaign and the...

In October 1998, at New York’s Museum of Tolerance, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences premiered restorations of Drew Associates’ Kennedy films. In attendance from Drew Associates were Robert Drew, Richard Leacock, D. A. Pennebaker, and Albert Maysles. This 2016 documentary was drawn...