Frederick Wiseman (January 1, 1930 — February 16, 2026) was an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theatre director. As a documentarian, Wiseman has been noted for his ability to capture the nuances of life in American institutions such as prisons, hospitals, welfare offices, and high schools. He started out in 1963 by producing a narrative crime drama, The Cool World, an examination of the lives of Harlem teenagers. In the beginning, Wiseman was a staunch social reformist, and his films were calls for change. Titicut Follies, his first documentary, is an exposé of life in a prison for the criminally insane in Bridgewater, MA. It was controversial and left Wiseman with the reputation of being a muckraker. His four subsequent documentaries were exposés of other tax-supported institutions designed to show the ineffectiveness of the bureaucracy that not only threatens to destroy, but also dehumanizes the people they're meant to serve. Wiseman toned down his message and began focusing more on American culture to point out the symbolism of daily activities in his film Primate (1974). In the 1980s, he began examining institutions in relation to ideology. Unlike other documentaries, Wiseman’s work does not progress chronologically; rather, the segments are arranged thematically, like an essay, and are linked via rhetorical devices, such as comparison and contrast to create a patterned structure. His films are never narrated, thereby forcing viewers to make connections between the sequences themselves. Wiseman has occasionally returned to fictional films, albeit in a non-fiction performance style, as with Seraphita’s Diary (1982) and La Derniere Lettre (2002). Wiseman only directed two narrative features, La Dernière Lettre (2002) and A Couple (2022). Aside from filmmaking, he also directed several stage productions and appeared in films, including The Summer House (2018), Other People's Children (2022), Eephus (2024) and A Private Life (2025). In 2016, he received an Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2017, The New York Times called him "one of the most important and original filmmakers working today", and won the Critics' Choice Documentary Award for Best Director for Ex Libris: The New York Public Library. Wiseman announced his retirement in February 2025 prior to his death on February 16, 2026.

Фільмографія

• 2026Danger — Peter
• 2026Dog with a Movie Camera — Thanks
• 2025Eephus — Branch Moreland (voice)
• 2025Jane Austen Wrecked My Life — Poète
• 2025Приватне життя — Dr. Goldstein
• 2023Menus-Plaisirs, les Troisgros — Editor, Producer, Writer, Director
• 2023My Sole Desire — Le client du printemps
• 2022A Couple — Director, Writer, Editor
• 2022Other People's Children — Dr. Wiseman
• 2020City Hall — Director, Editor, Producer
• Thanksgiving — John
• 2018Monrovia, Indiana — Director, Producer, Editor, Sound
• 2018The Summer House — CNC Commission member
• 2017Ex Libris: The New York Public Library — Director, Editor, Producer, Sound, Writer
• 2015In Jackson Heights — Producer, Director, Sound Director, Editor
• 2014National Gallery — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor, Sound
• 2013At Berkeley — Sound, Editor, Producer, Director
• 2013Next to Last (Autumn 63) — Edward Hopper (voice)
• 2012Aujourd'hui — L'homme
• 2011Crazy Horse — Director, Producer, Editor
• 2010Boxing Gym — Director, Editor, Sound
• 2009Haiku — Director
• 2009La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet — Director, Writer, Editor, Sound Director, Producer
• 2007State Legislature — Director, Editor, Producer
• 2005The Garden — Director, Editor, Producer
• 2002Domestic Violence 2 — Director, Producer, Editor
• 2002The Last Letter — Director, Editor
• 2001Domestic Violence — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1999Belfast, Maine — Director, Editor, Producer
• 1997Public Housing — Director, Producer, Editor
• Storyville — Director
• 1996La Comédie-Française ou L'amour joué — Director, Editor, Producer
• 1995Ballet — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1994High School II — Director, Editor
• 1993Zoo — Director, Producer, Editor, Sound
• 1991Aspen — Producer, Director, Editor
• 1990Central Park — Director, Editor, Producer
• 1989Near Death — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1988Missile — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1986Adjustment & Work — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1986Blind — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1986Deaf — Director, Editor, Producer
• 1986Multi-Handicapped — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1985Racetrack — Director, Editor, Producer
• 1983The Store — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1982Seraphita's Diary — Director
• 1981Model — Director, Editor, Producer
• 1979Manoeuvre — Director, Editor, Producer
• 1978Sinai Field Mission — Director, Editor, Producer
• 1977Canal Zone — Director, Writer, Editor, Producer
• 1976Meat — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1975Welfare — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1974Primate — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1973Juvenile Court — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1972Essene — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
• 1971Basic Training — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
• 1971I Miss Sonia Henie — Director
• 1970Hospital — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1969High School — Director, Producer, Editor, Writer
• 1969Law and Order — Director, Editor, Producer, Writer
• 1967Titicut Follies — Director, Writer, Editor, Producer
• 1964The Cool World — Producer

Ток-шоу, премії та інші появи (1)

• 2013Ain't Misbehavin — Self