Frederick Wiseman is known worldwide for being one of the most prolific filmmakers working today, and to some, maybe the best American filmmaker working in the present, period. Lately, Wiseman has decided to put his best documentary films available on the Internet, which makes it easier for filmmakers and cinephiles to study his work. His style and sensibility have inspired a lot of professionals from around the world, with a body of work that keeps growing with every year that passes.
From ‘Welfare’ to “Boxing Gym”, and going through his latest documentary films such as “National Gallery” and “In Jackson Heights”, Frederick Wiseman has managed to give a voice to movements and minorities, opening important conversations America’s daily life. ‘Ex Libris’, his latest documentary inspired by the New York Public Library, is a three hour-long film that examines how this legendary place reinvents and reconfigures itself for the digital age.
This is a landmark in Wiseman’s films, where the process of transformation is as important as anything that he’s trying to put on screen. Sometimes compared to Henri Cartier-Bresson, Wiseman is never heard asking questions, and the camera is somehow a phantasmagoric being roaming around on a room, never noticed by the subjects that the filmmaker decides to film. Instead, Wiseman shoots his films as he’s just passing by, watching whatever action takes place in these spaces, to reveal what´s hidden behind the little details, to make sure we get the vital core of what’s happening in front of him.
Known for his sociological point of view, Wiseman has also succeeded in telling some socially striking stories like in “Domestic Violence”, set in Florida, or showing the nature and complexity of the American welfare system in “Welfare”, probably his most known piece of work along with “In Jackson Heights”, where he explores the life in Jackson Heights, in New York City, a district that has been claimed to be the most diverse neighborhood in the world.
Wiseman, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, is a filmmaker that, at 88 years old, is capable of tackling every single piece of story that roams around American soil. His stories gravitate in a complex matter, yet his approach is as simple and stylish that anyone could be interested in watching his films. Although his works are quite long, every single one of them is an important piece of evidence in America’s cultural, political, economic and sociological growth.
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