Frederick Wiseman's complete works to tour Korea in landmark retrospective

Korea Herald

2 days ago

Five-year restoration project brings 45 films to venues across Korea through 2026
The 17th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (DMZ Docs) announced Thursday a complete touring showcase of Frederick Wiseman's 45-film catalog, set to launch this September and continuing through July 2026.
The 95-year-old Boston native, often called America's greatest living documentarian, has spent nearly six decades creating what he terms "reality fictions" -- observational studies of American life through the lens of its institutions: schools, hospitals, welfare offices, courts and military bases -- systems of power and control that shape the individual experience.
His films range from his controversial debut "Titicut Follies" (1967), an expose of conditions at a state hospital for the criminally insane, to recent works like "City Hall" (2020), which tracks Boston's municipal operations from mayoral meetings to homeless outreach programs.
Other highlights include "Welfare" (1978), a sprawling portrait of New York's social services system; "La Danse" (2009), which captures the Paris Opera Ballet in rehearsal and performance; "Ex Libris: The New York Public Library" (2017), exploring the public library's role as both a repository and a community hub; and "A Couple" (2022), an intimate study of Leo Tolstoy and his wife through their correspondence.
The retrospective follows an ambitious restoration effort that has made Wiseman's works newly accessible to viewers worldwide. Thirty-three films shot between 1967 and 2006 have been restored in 4K from their original 16mm negatives, a five-year project involving the Library of Congress, Harvard Film Archive, and restoration labs DuArt and Goldcrest Post. Wiseman personally reviewed and approved each restoration.
DMZ Docs will screen 20 titles during its Sept. 11–17 run in Goyang and Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The full 45-film program will then move to Seoul Art Cinema and Busan Cinema Center, with selected works touring cinematheques and arthouses across the country — including stops in cities such as Gwangju, Gangneung and Jeonju — through next summer.
'This retrospective offers a comprehensive look at Wiseman's lifelong investigation of how we live together -- how institutions mediate human behavior, and how people shape and are shaped by the systems they inhabit,' said DMZ Docs senior programmer Jang Byung-won.
The festival will also host symposiums and screenings featuring scholars, critics and filmmakers from Korea and abroad, alongside the publication of a comprehensive catalog documenting Wiseman's complete body of work.