belfast, maine
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His newest work, BELFAST, MAINE, having its American premiere at
the Walter Reade, is apparently about one small town in New England, but its
epic structure incorporates a huge portion of modern American experience,
from our forgotten, bedridden elder population to our rural hunting culture,
from the abundance of processed food that now fills our diets to the loss of
our own historical past. As in all his best work, BELFAST, MAINE is made with
a patient, careful eye and ear, a natural storytelling sense and an enormous,
passionate drive to render life as it’s lived rather than as it’s imagined or
theorized. So, this is a complete retrospective of the work of not only a
great documentarian but of a great American filmmaker: Frederick Wiseman.
Note: We wll have several panel discussions throughout this series:
Sat Jan 29 at 2 pm prior to BELFAST, MAINE
Fri Feb 4 at 7:30 pm after LAW AND ORDER
Sun Feb 6 at 4 pm prior to PUBLIC HOUSING
Fri Feb 11 at 7:30 following HOSPITAL
Thu Feb 24 at 9 pm following DEAF
Fred Wiseman is scheduled to appear at the discussion on January 29; possible prospective panelists include Philip Lopate, Norman E. Siegel, Stuart Klawans and David Denby.
BELFAST, MAINE (1999; 245m)
Wiseman’s latest film paints a true portrait of ordinary lives in a
beautiful old New England port town, framing the work and cultural life
of the community. The director testifies that in order “to look beyond
the images of community, I have made a film about a traditional town
where the past and future engage in a constant tug of war...224-year-old
Belfast has been a Revolutionary War outpost, a center of culture, a hub
of shipbuilding and commerce, a stagnant backwater, a blue-collar haven,
and now, a community in flux as a large credit card company becomes its
principal industry and employer. it is one of the poorest communities in
Maine; it is one of the richest in terms of natural beauty... Will it be
deserted or gentrified under the pressures of economic change? Which of
its traditions will endure and how will new ways and new people alter
its rhythms?”
Fri Jan 28: 1 & 6:15; Sun Jan 29: 3:30
preceded by a panel featured Frederick Wiseman, starting at 2 pm
RACETRACK (1985; 114m)
"Wiseman wanders around Belmont finding ripe, illustrative material, most of
which fits into the abiding themes of his films, the melancholia peculiar to
industrial societies, the emotional wages of
materialism. Horseracing is a small industry comparatively, but it serves as
a rich microcosm.... It's a super super film, from a super super filmmaker."
—Tom Shales, The Washington Post
RACETRACK is about the Belmont Race Track, one of the world's leading
racetracks for thoroughbred racing. The film highlights the training,
maintaining and racing of thoroughbred horses. Everyday occurrences are
shown: in the backstretch—the grooming, feeding, shoeing, and caring for
horses and the preparation for races; at the practice track—the various
aspects of training, exercising, and timing the horses; at the paddock—the
pre-race presentation of the horses; and in the grandstand—betting and
watching the races. The film also has sequences showing the variety of work
done by trainers, jockeys, jockey agents, grooms, trot walkers, stable hands,
and veterinarians.
Tues Feb 1: 1 & 7:30; Wed Feb 2: 2:45
THE STORE (1983; 118m)
THE STORE is a film about the main Neiman-Marcus store and corporate
headquarters in Dallas. The sequences in the film include the selection,
presentation, marketing, pricing, advertising and selling of a vast array of
consumer products, including designer clothes and furs, jewelry, perfumes,
shoes, electronic products, sportswear, china and porcelain and many other
goods. The internal
management and organizational aspects of a large corporation are shown, i.e.,
sales meetings, development of marketing and advertising strategies,
training, personnel practices and sales techniques.
Tues Feb 1: 3:15; Wed Feb 2: 8:30
HIGH SCHOOL II (1994; 220m)
“Wiseman’s method fits perfectly with the school’s approach to teaching.
Again and again, you hear the staff...ask the students to fill out their
statements, to add detail, to provide more evidence. That’s exactly what
Wiseman does devotedly and brilliantly.” -—Stuart Klawans, The Nation
HIGH SCHOOL spotlights Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS), a
successful alternative high school in New York’s Spanish Harlem, 85% to
95% of whose graduates go on to four-year colleges. The film illustrates
the School’s emphasis on “Habits of Mind”: weighing evidence; awareness
of mulitple points of view; seeing connections and relationships;
speculating on possibilities; and assessing values. This documentary of
teaching as a means of stretching minds stands in stark contrast to the
regimented world of Wiseman’s first HIGH SCHOOL.
Sun Jan 30: 3:45
ESSENE (1972; 86m)
ESSENE is about daily life in a Benedictine monastery and the resolution of
conflict between personal needs and the institutional and organizational
priorities of the community. In the Order, where the focus of life is the
relationship of individual work and worship to the community as a whole, the
brethren must cope with the same issues that arise in any community: rules,
work, worship, values, love, and play.
Tues Feb 1: 5:40; Wed Feb 2: 1 & 6:45
TITICUT FOLLIES (1967; 84m)
Wiseman’s documentary debut—-a stark, unrelenting glimpse into the State
Prison for the Criminally Insane in Bridgewater, Massachusets-—was banned
worldwide until 1992 due to a court ruling regarding invasion of privacy. The
title refers to a musical revue staged by inmates and guards.
Tues Feb 1: 9:40; Wed Feb 9: 7
HIGH SCHOOL (1968; 75m)
The school system exists not only to pass on “facts” but ideally to transmit
social values from one generation to another. Wiseman’s HIGH SCHOOL documents
how this social conditioning occurs. Roaming through a large, above-average
urban high school in Philadelphia, we witness a series of formal and informal
clashes between teachers, students, parents and administrators through which
the ideology and values of the school emerge: “We are out to establish that
you are a man and that you can take orders.”
Wed Feb 2: 5; Sun Feb 6: 4 & 9:05
BALLET (1995; 170m)
BALLET is a film about the American Ballet Theatre. The film presents the
Company in rehearsal in their New York studio and on tour in Athens and
Copenhagen. Choreographers, ballet masters and mistresses are shown at work
with principal dancers, soloists and the corps de ballet. Other sequences
involve the administration and fund-raising aspects of the Company. BALLET
is a profile of the work of an important classical ballet company.
Thurs Feb 3: 1 & 6:45; Thurs Feb 10: 1; Wed Feb 16: 1
MODEL (1980; 129m)
The film shows men and women models at work on TV commercials, fashion shows,
print advertising, posing for magazine covers and ads for a variety of
products: designer's collections, fur coats, sports clothes and automobiles.
The models are seen at work with photographers whose techniques illustrate
different styles of fashion and product photography. Also, the business
aspect of running an agency is shown: interviewing prospective models, career
counseling, arranging portfolios, talking with clients and planning trips.
The film presents a view of the intersections of fashion, business,
advertising, photography, television and fantasy.
Thurs Feb 3: 4:15; Thurs Feb 24: 1
LAW AND ORDER (1969; 81m)
LAW AND ORDER surveys the wide range of work the police are asked to perform:
enforcing the law, maintaining order, and providing general social services.
The incidents shown illustrate how training, community expectations,
socio-economic status of the subject, the threat of violence, and discretion
affect police behavior. (LAW AND ORDER won an Emmy Award as the Best News
Documentary in 1969.)
Fri Feb 4: 1 & 6
(Panel discussion on LAW AND ORDER: Fri Feb 4: 7:30; panelists to include Norman E. Siegel of the ACLU)
Sat Feb 5: 6:45; Wed Feb 9: 8:45
JUVENILE COURT (1973; 144m)
JUVENILE COURT shows the complex variety of the cases before the Memphis
Juvenile Court: foster home placement, drug abuse, armed robbery, child abuse
and sexual offenses. The sequences illustrate such issues as community
protection vs. the desire for rehabilitation, the range and the limits of the
choices available to the court, the psychology of the offender, and the
constitutional and procedural questions involved in administering a juvenile
court.
Fri Feb 4: 2:45 & 9; Sat Feb 5: 4 & 8:30
PUBLIC HOUSING (1997; 195m)
PUBLIC HOUSING is a film about daily life at the Ida B. Wells public housing
development in Chicago. The film shows the work of the tenants council,
street life, the role of police, job training programs, drug education,
teenage mothers, dysfunctional families, elderly residents, nursery school
and and after-school teenage programs and the activities of the city, state
and federal governments in maintaining and changing public housing. The
scenes illustrate some of the experiences of people living in conditions of
extreme poverty.
Sun Feb 6: 5:30
CENTRAL PARK (1989; 176m)
CENTRAL PARK is a film about the variety of ways in which people make use of
the Park—for example, running, boating, walking, skating, music, theatre,
sports, picnics, parades and concerts. The film also illustrates the complex
problems the New York City Parks Department must deal with to maintain and
preserve the Park and keep it open and accessible to the public.
Mon Feb 7: 1 & 6:45; Wed Feb 9: 3:30
ZOO (1993; 130m)
ZOO is a film about the zoo in Miami, Florida. The zoo's collection includes
780 animals representing hundreds of species. The film shows the care and
maintenance of the animals by the keepers, the work of the veterinarians and
their staff and the visits to the zoo by people from all over the world. The
film presents the wide diversity of interests and activities at the zoo and
the interrelatedness of the animal, human, ethical, financial, technical,
organizational and research aspects of operating the zoo.
Mon Feb 7: 4:15; Wed Feb 9: 1
HOSPITAL (1970; 84m)
HOSPITAL shows the daily activities of a large urban hospital
with the emphasis on the emergency ward and outpatient clinics. The cases
depicted illustrate how medical expertise, availability of resources,
organizational considerations, and the nature of communication among the
staff and patients affect the delivery of appropriate health care.
Thurs Feb 10: 4:15; Fri Feb 11: 1 & 6
( panel discussion on HOSPITAL: Fri Feb
11: 7:30)
BLIND (1986; 132m)
The film shows the educational programs and daily life of
students from kindergarten through the 12th grade at the Alabama School for
the Blind. The School is organized around the effort to educate blind and
visually impaired students to be in charge of their own lives. Sequences in
the film include mobility training, braille instruction and orientation as
well as traditional classroom subjects such as English, history, science and
music. Other sequences show psychological counseling sessions; vocational
training; staff dealing with student disciplinary problems; and the wide
variety of
recreational and athletic programs.
Feb 11: 3 & 9
MANOEUVRE (1979; 115m)
"...the only thing lacking in MANOEUVRE is the smell of commingled sweat and
exhaust." -—Time
Every fall NATO conducts manoeuvres in Western Europe. One purpose of these
war games is to test how quickly and effectively U.S. reinforcements can come
to the aid of NATO forces stationed in Europe. MANOEUVRE follows an infantry
tank company from the U.S. through the various stages of the training
exercise in West Germany; the defensive and offensive tactics, and the
hypothetical wins and losses are seen from the point of view of a company
fighting a simulated, conventional, non-nuclear ground and air war.
Sat Feb 12: 4:30 & 8:40
BASIC TRAINING (1971; 89m)
BASIC TRAINING follows a company of draftees and enlisted men through the
nine weeks of the basic training cycle. The varieties of training techniques
used by the army in converting civilians to soldiers are illustrated in
scenes of drills, M-16 and bayonet use, gas chamber, mines, night crawl,
infiltration course and the many forms of ideological training familiar to
millions of men and women who have served in the armed forces.
Sat Feb 12: 6:45; Sun Feb 13: 4
NEAR DEATH (1989; 358m)
NEAR DEATH is a film about the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Boston's Beth
Israel Hospital. The film is concerned with how people face death. More
specifically the film presents the complex interrelationships among patients,
families, doctors, nurses, hospital staff and religious advisors as they
confront the personal, ethical, medical, psychological, religious and legal
issues involved in making decisions about whether or not to give
life-sustaining
treatment to dying patients.
Mon Feb 14: 1 (with 20m intermission)
LA COMÈDIE FRANÇAISE (1996; 223m)
LA COMÈDIE FRANÇAISE is the oldest continuous
repertory company in the world, founded in Paris in the late 17th century.
This is the first time a documentary filmmaker has been allowed to look at
all the aspects of the work of this great theatrical company. Sequences in
the film include sections of plays, casting, set and costume design,
administrative meetings and rehearsals and performances of four classic
French plays, Don Juan by Moliére, La Thebaide by Racine, La Double
Inconstance by Marivaux and Occupe-toi d'Amelie by Feydeau.
Tues Feb 15: 1
MISSILE (1987; 115m)
A film about the 4315th Training Squadron of the Strategic Air Command at
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, which trains Air Force officers to
man the Launch Control Centers for the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic
Missiles. Sequences include discussion of the moral and military issues of
nuclear war; the arming, targeting and launching of the missile; codes;
communications; protection against terrorist attack; emergency procedures;
staff meetings; tutorial sessions. The film follows the trainees through the
various stages of training through graduation and assignment to staff Launch
Control Centers.
Thurs Feb 17: 1 & 5:45; Fri Feb 18: 3:25
SINAI FIELD MISSION (1978; 127m)
SINAI FIELD MISSION shows the routine activities of the diplomats and
electronics technicians who operate the U.S. Sinai Field Mission, the early
warning system established in 1976 to help facilitate the disengagement
between Egypt and Israel after the 1973 war. The major purpose of the Mission
is to monitor the approaches to strategic passes and to verify the operations
of the Egyptian and Israeli surveillance stations in the Sinai Buffer Zone.
Thurs Feb 17: 3:15 & 8; Fri Feb 18: 1
WELFARE (1975; 167m)
The nature and complexity of the welfare system is examined by sequences
illustrating the staggering diversity of problems that constitute welfare:
housing, unemployment, divorce, medical and psychiatric problems, abandoned
and abused children, and the elderly. These issues are presented in a context
where welfare workers as well as the clients are struggling to cope with and
interpret the laws and regulations that govern their work and life.
Fri Feb 18: 5:40 & 8:50
PRIMATE (1974; 105m)
PRIMATE presents the daily activities of Yerkes Primate Research Center.
Scientists in the film are concerned with studying the physical and mental
development of primates. Some of the experimental work shown in the film
deals with the capacity to learn, remember, and apply language and manual
skills; the effect of alcohol and drugs on behavior; the control of
aggressive and sexual behavior; and other neural and physiological
determinants of behavior.
Mon Feb 21: 1 & 6:15
CANAL ZONE (1977; 174m)
CANAL ZONE is about the people who live and work in the Panama Canal Zone and
shows both the operation of the Canal and the various governmental
agencies—-business, military, and civilian-—related to the functioning of the
Canal and the lives of the Americans in the zone. The film includes sequences
of ships in transit, the work of special canal pilots, aspects of the civil
government, work of the military, and the social, religious and recreational
life of the Zonians.
Mon Feb 21: 3 & 8:20
MEAT (1976; 113m)
MEAT traces the process through which cattle and sheep become consumer
products. It depicts the processing and transportation of meat products by a
highly automated packing plant, illustrating important points and problems in
the area of production, transportation, logistics, equipment design,
time-motion study, and labor management.
Tues Feb 22: 1 & 6
ADJUSTMENT AND WORK (1986; 120m)
The first part of this film takes place at the E.H. Gentry Technical
Facility, which provides evaluation and personal adjustment services to
sensory impaired adults and also functions as a vocational training center
offering technical instruction in 15 career areas, such as business,
printing, home economics, food services, and computer sciences. Sequences
show the adjustment services for adults in personal and work situations as
they learn to adjust to their impairments. The film goes on to show work at
the Alabama Industries for the Blind, the second largest employer of blind
people in the U.S., which provides employment and training to more than 300
blind, deaf and other handicapped persons. Sequences include routine work and
manufacturing of a variety of household and military products.
Tues Feb 22: 3:15 & 8:15
MULTI-HANDICAPPED (1986; 126m)
This film shows the day-to-day activities of multi-handicapped and sensory
impaired students and their teachers, dormitory parents, and counselors at
the Helen Keller School. The primary mission of the school is to meet the
total and living needs of deaf and/or blind children, some of whom also have
other disabilities. The film presents situations involving personal hygiene,
mobility training, concepts of time and money, self help and independent
living, dormitory life, recreation, sports, vocational training, and
psychological counseling.
Wed Feb 23: 1 & 6:20
DEAF (1986; 164m)
The School for the Deaf at the Alabama Institute is organized around a theory
of total communication, i.e., the use of signs and finger spelling in
conjunction with speech, hearing aids, lip reading, gestures and the written
word. The film shows sequences dealing with various aspects of this
comprehensive training such as teaching students and parents to sign; speech
therapy; psychological counseling; regular academic courses; vocational
training; disciplinary problems; parental visits; sports and recreational
activity; training in living and working independently; and developing skills
in home and money management.
Wed Feb 23: 3:20 & 8:45
Feb 24 at 6:15
(note: Feb 24 is a subtitled video version and will be followed by a panel discussion with sign language interpreters)
ASPEN (1991; 146m)
ASPEN is a film about a town famous in the 19th century for silver mining and
now for its scenic splendor, mountains,
skiing, hiking, music, intellectual activity and fashionable people. The film
documents the daily life and activities of the people who live, work, visit
and play in Aspen in the winter.
Thurs Feb 24: 3:30
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