“Wednesdays With Wiseman” To Celebrate Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman

Sag Harbor Cinema (SHC) is paying homage to Frederick Wiseman through Wednesdays With Wiseman, a trio of screenings that commences on Wednesday, October 21. SHC will also present the filmmaker’s latest work.

“I can think of very few storytellers that can match Fred Wiseman’s piercing eye, his intellect, his depth, his underlying humor and his insatiable curiosity. Calling himself ‘a fantasist’ rather than a documentarian, for over 50 years Wiseman has led us through an exploration of the human experience- social, geographical and emotional- that has no equal in American Cinema,” noted Sag Harbor Cinema Artistic Director Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan.

Available via SHC’s Virtual Cinema, each week will feature a classic Wiseman film, which will be introduced by a dialogue between Wiseman and fellow documentary filmmakers.

The retrospective will begin with Ballet (1995) on Wednesday, October 21. The featured guest will be Academy Award winner Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, who co-directed and produced Free Solo. On Wednesday, October 28, Sinai Field Mission (1978) will screen. The viewing will include a chat with Errol Morris, Academy Award winning director of The Fog of War. The series will conclude on Wednesday, November 4 with Hospital (1970), presented in tribute to health care workers. Academy Award nominees Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady will join Wiseman in conversation.

The filmmaker’s latest project, City Hall, will be available to watch on Friday, November 6. “I made City Hall to illustrate why government is necessary for people to successfully live together. City Hall shows a city government offering a wide variety of important and necessary services to a major American city whose population exemplifies the history of diversity of America. The Boston city government is designed and strives to offer these services in a manner consistent with the Constitution and democratic norms. Boston’s city government is the opposite of what Trump stands for,” Wiseman said about the film.

“I am very excited to share this series with our audience -and even more to bring to SHC Fred’s new film, City Hall, a beautiful work that combines several strands of his past films and that is also incredibly timely,” D’Agnolo Vallan added.

For more information, visit www.sagharborcinema.org.