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Penny Lane

@pennyjupiter

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I make documentaries + I choose to LOL. 🎬: @flacodocumentary • Nuts! • Listening to Kenny G • Hail Satan? Also: Substack, consultant, educator + EP.

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START HERE... My name is Penny Lane and I've directed 8 feature length documentaries and a bunch of short documentaries. I also write a Substack about "making art and making a living in documentary" called Penny Lane is my Real Name. I try to do meaningful work and have fun doing it. I consult with ambitious filmmakers on their own nonfiction projects, and occasionally Executive Produce as well. My roots as a filmmaker are found in community media and video art; only gradually did I move into independent documentary filmmaking (primarily features). I was a professor of art for many years (Hampshire, Williams, Bard, Colgate). Since 2019 I have run a production company with Gabriel Sedgwick called Spinning Nancy. Growing up I could never have imagined living an artist's life but here I am somehow doing it. taken in Brooklyn, New York by @pennyjupiter

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8 months ago

For almost a year, I’ve been writing a weekly newsletter about making art and making a living in documentary film. (Link in bio!!) If I may say so myself, it’s really good. I know a LOT of people are reading it & I know that a LOT of people are getting a lot of value out of it.

I love writing it. I work VERY hard on each post and I share way more than I should!

So if you care about documentary, & if you read the newsletter & you find it useful or interesting: it’s time to become a paid subscriber!

It’s $6/month. If enough readers decide the work is worth paying for, I’ll keep doing it. If not, at some point I won’t. You can also just pay for one month, read everything & cancel. That’s like totally fine!!!

That’s the deal! ❤️ by @pennyjupiter

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13 days ago

Looking for photos and videos of Happy the elephant, and of 6 other baby elephants (captured in Asia, named for “7 Dwarfs” & brought to Lion Country Safari in Florida). This group then was separated & spread out all over North America to zoos and circuses of all kinds. Happy was the famous one, but the other 6 stories matter just as much. Collecting visual material — and personal testimony — from dozens of locations over many decades is a gargantuan task for this film & we need your help! HOME MOVIES ARE GREAT!!! More information at ElephantDocumentary.com (link in bio)! by @pennyjupiter

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a month ago

Bringing Flaco’s story to life 🦉 @pennyjupiter sits down with Museum of Moving Image to discuss “Wild Inside”

📸 Images captured by Benny Polatseck and David Lei by @pennyjupiter

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3 days ago

Tickets are going fast for our Opening Night Gala Film, WILD INSIDE, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Penny Lane. The film screens October 9 at 7 PM @oaklawnhotsprings in association with the Birding Festival of the South. Indiewire has called this film one of the "Best of 2026 (So Far)" and we agree!

If you're attending the Birding Festival of the South, tickets to this event, along with our other bird-related programming, are available as add-ons! We hope you join us as we kick off our 35th edition of #HSDFF!

Tickets are available at our link in bio. Birding Festival of the South attendees, visit hotsprings.org/events/birding-festival-of-the-south or email ahampo@hotsprings.org for more info.

#hotspringsarkansas #birdingfestivalofthesouth #flaco #wildinside taken in Hot Springs, Arkansas by @pennyjupiter

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4 days ago

Award-winning director Penny Lane (Nuts!, Hail Satan?) will receive the VAFF’s Chronicler Award, in recognition of her achievements in non-fiction filmmaking and will join the Festival with her new documentary THE WILD INSIDE.

🍿 Festival Dates Oct 21-25
🎟 Tickets On Sale Oct 2

#2026VAFF #VAFF #virginiafilmfestival #vafilmfest

WILD INSIDE: The tale of Flaco the Owl, the famous escapee of NYC'e Central Park Zoo, and the people he captivated. by @pennyjupiter

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8 days ago

We’ve fallen hard for Flaco the owl!🦉 Please join us for WILD INSIDE directed by Penny Lane on Wednesday, October 21 // 9:00 PM @paradiseonbloor @pennyjupiter @flacodocumentary

For one remarkable year, a captive-born owl became one of New York City’s most unlikely celebrities. In WILD INSIDE , director Penny Lane follows Flaco, a male Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo into the city in 2023 and captivated New Yorkers and, eventually, audiences around the world.

Lane traces the extraordinary bond that formed between the owl and those watching from below as Flaco learned to navigate Manhattan with no experience of life in the wild. But beneath the affection and fascination lie provocative questions about power, captivity, and what freedom looks like when the boundaries between wild and domesticated, captive and free, begin to blur. Who, exactly, is captive?

With warmth, wit, and curiosity, Lane transforms an extraordinary true story into a meditation on freedom, captivity, and our complicated relationship with the natural world. by @pennyjupiter

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10 days ago

NUTS! (Penny Lane, 2015)
Cartuna Limited Edition Blu-ray by @pennyjupiter

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11 days ago

Why anyone who is anyone subscribes to Penny Lane is my Real Name — in their own words! (Link in bio.) by @pennyjupiter

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13 days ago

The @hsdff Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (October 9-17) announced acclaimed filmmaker Penny Lane’s ( @pennyjupiter ) Wild Inside ( @flacodocumentary ) will open the highly anticipated 35th edition of the film festival presented by Oaklawn on Friday, October 9 at the Oaklawn Events Center in Hot Springs.

More details at FilmsGoneWild.com

#hotsprings #hotspringsdocumentaryfilmfestival #documentary #filmfest by @pennyjupiter

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16 days ago

We love this subway Flaco mural by @fredtomaselli so much we had to put it in the film. WILD INSIDE has a very special screening coming up this Saturday at MoMI @movingimagenyc in Queens. A quick subway trip from Manhattan on the M train. It screens as part of their “Wild City” program exploring NYC’s urban wildlife ecology.

This Saturday Sept. 19, 230 pm, followed by a Q&A with some very special guests. Plus it’s FREE, all you have to do is RSVP on their website. by @pennyjupiter

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19 days ago

What would happen if a captive-born owl with no survival skills tried to make it on his own in New York City? 🦉

In WILD INSIDE, director Penny Lane follows Flaco, a Eurasian Eagle-Owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo in February 2023 and embarked on a magical odyssey through Manhattan. As Flaco answers the call of the wild, he discovers that he was wild inside all along — enchanting the people and places he encounters along the way.

🎥 Saturday, September 19 • 7:00 PM
📍Redfield Auditorium • 45 Water Street, Woods Hole
🎬 Doc Feature • Dir. Penny Lane • USA • 2026 • 95 min.
🍽️ Ticketholders receive 10% off a meal at @quahogrepublic_leesidepub
🎟️ Tickets at the link in our bio taken in Woods Hole Film Festival by @pennyjupiter

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21 days ago