How many nonagenarians do you know with 46 documentaries to their name? If the answer is none, look to Frederick Wiseman to change that.
The 95-year-old documentarian has worked to build that filmography since 1963, producing and directing dozens of films centered around a wide range of subjects including the treatment of incarcerated people, the state of public education, the welfare system, hospitals, libraries and nightclubs, among many more.
San Francisco’s Roxie Theater programmed “THIS IS AMERICA: Frederick Wiseman – 7 Dispatches” with Arlin Golden, a co-director of Video Project and director and programmer of Drunken Film Fest Oakland. Golden is also a Wiseman devotee and co-host of “Wiseman Podcast.” Golden has and will introduce every screening in the series, six of which are presented in brand-new 4K restorations.
Golden brought the idea of a Wiseman series to the Roxie’s programmers a few months ago and they worked closely to put it together.
“Roxie Theater is my favorite theater in the Bay, so I’ve always wanted to work with them. There have been these retrospectives happening around the biggest cities, LA, Chicago, New York and a few other programs in mid-market cities,” Golden said. “So our approach to Roxie about partnering on this was just because I was like, ‘The Bay Area should have some of this going on.’”
Narrowing Wiseman’s extensive filmography down to seven films for this series proved a challenge, but Golden and Rick Norris, the Roxie’s programmer, managed to get to that number by focusing on what they believed to be Wiseman’s essential works and highlighting ones shot on film rather than digital.
“A lot of the collaboration was whittling that down and Arlin would put forward his case why it should be these titles,” Norris said. “That was the back and forth over a couple of weeks and that played a significant role in this series we’re showing. We feel very lucky that he reached out to us in the first place.”
The seven selected films ended up being “Aspen,” “Canal Zone,” “Deaf,” “Hospital,” “Model,” “Titicut Follies” and “Welfare.”
“The Roxie has always been the kind of place that would be showing Wiseman throughout the decades. So I had my favorites,” Norris said. “It can be hard to bring an audience in for a Frederick Wiseman film, and sometimes they’ll just do gangbusters, so you never know. The first hit we ever had with Wiseman was ‘La Danse.’ To be able to pack an audience for a Frederick Wiseman movie is personally gratifying.”
Wiseman’s latest documentary, “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros,” played at the Roxie to large crowds, even at its nearly four-hour runtime. Matt Sigl, a staff member with the theater, worked some of those screenings and is hoping for similar turnouts for this retrospective.
“We’re looking forward to it. We had a Wiseman movie here a few years ago and that went really well,” Sigl said. “Hopefully we’ll have similar success with this.”
Those hopes are shared by Alejo Perez-Stable, a friend of the Roxie’s house staff who works the box office.
“There were definitely a lot of walk-ups,” said Perez-Stable. “We started with about 45 presales and it definitely went up. I’d say it’s pretty good.”
With nearly a century of experience to his name, Wiseman’s documentaries carry a weight among the film community. His lengthy career and non-stop work ethic have left a massive amount of films, which are not often easy to see, but these 4K restorations are making them more accessible to larger audiences.
“They’re entertaining movies. That’s really what I wanted to use as a guiding principle for this group of seven,” Golden said. “They’re not polemics. They’re not prescriptive. They’re not like eating your broccoli about social issues. They are informative. through an experience and they’re empathic and invigorating and I love them so much and I want to share them with the Bay.”
Five of the seven films are still yet to screen, with “Aspen” up next on April 12. The series will run through June 12 at the Roxie, and tickets are available now.
