Episode 219: Frederick Wiseman at 95

Frederick Wiseman: An American Institution is the title of a career retrospective currently running at New York's Film at Lincoln Center through March 5. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviews Wiseman at age 95 about how he maintained his independence for over five decades. They discuss a range of topics including what's happening with his 2005 documentary "The Garden" that was never released.

Hear our previous interview with Wiseman on episode 55. You can also find his films on Kanopy.

The American Cinematheque is honored to pay tribute to the legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, with a complete retrospective of all 45 of the master’s works. In one of the most vital instances of film restoration this century, Zipporah Films completed the historic digitization process, making all 45 of Wiseman’s films available digitally. This five-year endeavor saw an additional 33 films of Wiseman’s converted to digital formats, adding to the existing 13 films. Few filmmakers have made such a lasting and continual impact on the art form as Frederick Wiseman, and we are thrilled to present the grand, unparalleled scope of his career through this complete retrospective.

Beginning with his groundbreaking documentary TITICUT FOLLIES, since the 1960s, Wiseman has aimed his camera at various social institutions, shedding light on a myriad of complex social issues and lending a voice (and image) to many of the long-lasting American misgivings about the world we occupy. Serving as both producer and director of every film in his nearly six decades long career, Wiseman continues to build on his staggering oeuvre which includes masterpieces such as: HIGH SCHOOL, LAW AND ORDER, HOSPITAL, JUVENILE COURT, PRIMATE, WELFARE, THE STORE, BLIND, DEAF, AT BERKELEY, NATIONAL GALLERY, IN JACKSON HEIGHTS, CITY HALL, MENUS-PLAISIRS – LES TROISGROS, and many more.

The Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico is hosting a Frederick Wiseman retrospective from October 2024 through September 2025. The retrospective will show 12 of Wiseman's films, including Essene (1972). The films will be screened on Sunday matinees, and each film will only be shown once. 

This retrospective series features 17 of Wiseman’s 45 documentary films, spanning three decades of his career, and is set to screen every Thursday evening from February 6 to May 29. Wiseman is best known for his very observational, immersive, “fly-on-the-wall” style of documentary, often focusing on specific institutions, such as a Philadelphia high school, the flagship Neiman-Marcus store, or a New York City Welfare office

At the MFA, catch Wiseman’s acclaimed works Titicut Follies (1967), his groundbreaking and controversial expose of the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Massachusetts, and National Gallery (2014), a mesmerizing portrait of one of the world’s great art museums.

Join us for this extraordinary celebration of a master filmmaker whose work reminds us to look closer and think deeper.

This spring, The Brattle is joining together with The Coolidge, IFFBoston, The MFA, and The Somerville Theatre to celebrate the career of Boston’s own Frederick Wiseman, one of cinema’s most influential documentarians. Wiseman’s longform, fly-on-the-wall explorations of American and international institutions are remarkable documents of the people and systems that make modern society function. On Mondays at The Brattle this March, we’ll be taking a look at some of Wiseman’s earliest films—those he made in the late 1960s and 1970s as he really developed his style. This program includes films about the church and the military, government programs and the courts, as well as a provocative look inside the big business of being beautiful in 1980. All of these films will be screened in brand new, restored 4K digital versions never before seen in Boston!

“Frederick Wiseman: The Choreography of Everyday Life” presents 14 of the director’s films over our spring programming cycle, with video introductions by Wiseman himself, an intro and talkback by filmmaker and DocUBC lead Shannon Walsh, and a discussion of Wiseman’s Hospital as part of April’s Frames of Mind screening.

Frederick Wiseman’s first feature is a stark and graphic portrayal of the conditions that existed at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The film documents the various ways the inmates are treated by the guards, social workers and psychiatrists. Titicut Follies screens as part of Museum Films' retrospective series Frederick Wiseman: Documenting American Life. 

This spring, arts institutions throughout Boston are joining forces to present a wide-ranging retrospective of the works of legendary local documentarian Frederick Wiseman.

Throughout his nearly six-decade career, Wiseman has been steadily and unflinchingly chronicling institutional life in America and abroad, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest documentary filmmakers of all time. The Coolidge is proud to showcase four films from his illustrious filmography, including two films newly restored in 4K.

For over half a century, Frederick Wiseman has chronicled the everyday workings of the interconnected systems that govern contemporary life. With brief titles and an unadorned approach that belie their vast complexity, Wiseman’s documentaries build their subjects – always institutions rather than individuals – from scratch, stripping away the burden of context so that audiences might see reality anew through his considered perspective. Embedding into matters both public and private, and into affluence and poverty alike, the films are enhanced in conversation with one another, with resonances stretching across time and space. As connections accumulate, viewers might find themselves feeling that they better understand the world in which they live, and even their place within it.

‘THIS IS AMERICA: Frederick Wiseman – 7 Dispatches’ presents seven films from Wiseman’s essential body of work, six in brand new 4k digital presentations. Featuring a diverse selection of both established classics and under-seen deep cuts – ranging in eras, tones, and themes – spring at The Roxie offers a rare opportunity to experience in a theatrical setting the work of one of our greatest living filmmakers and artists. – Arlin Golden.

Co-curated by The Roxie and Arlin Golden.

The Somerville Theatre is honored to take part in a regional celebration of legendary local documentarian Frederick Wiseman. This wide-ranging retrospective will feature a selection of films spanning decades of the iconic filmmaker’s prolific career, including many of the 33 classics newly restored in 4K following a five-year restoration process by Zipporah Films and overseen by Wiseman.

Throughout his nearly six-decade career, Wiseman has been steadily and unflinchingly chronicling institutional life in America and abroad. Below are the films screening at Somerville Theatre.