Remembering Frederick Wiseman, 1930 – 2026

Few international filmmakers have had a deeper relationship with Sydney Film Festival than Frederick Wiseman. Over the past five decades, we’ve had the honour of presenting 23 of his extraordinary documentaries – more feature films than any other filmmaker – as well as hosting him for a video masterclass in 2022.

We are deeply saddened by the news of his passing, as a filmmaker still creating extraordinary documentaries in his 90s. As so many of his films examine institutions that shape our world – libraries, city halls, parks, restaurants and more – today we honour the impact he made on SFF as an institution.

Wiseman’s contribution to the artform, and to all of us who love it, is immeasurable.

Australian Documentary Programmer and former Head of Programs Jenny Neighbour had the following to say of Wiseman’s legacy:

“Many have written in praise of Frederick Wiseman since his death, age 96, this week. Obituaries in publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, to name just two, talk about his towering legacy.

Immersing yourself in a Wiseman film is one of cinema’s greatest pleasures, losing track of time as you watch people doing what they do, and the places they do it.

The Sydney Film Festival audience has been privileged to see his work on the big screen from his debut feature ‘Titicut Follies’ (produced in 1967 but banned until 1992) to his most recent production ‘Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros’ (2023, SFF24), plus a retrospective of his key films in 2022.

Sadly, Wiseman was never a festival guest, despite numerous invitations, as the northern hemisphere summer was his preferred time for filming. I recall in 2018, we programmed his Venice FF-winning work, ‘Ex Libris – The New York Public Library’. As the festival’s documentary programmer, imagine my delight when it became the first film to sell out in that year’s event, so popular that we squeezed in repeat sessions – despite its three-hour-plus running time. Wiseman was very happy to hear of this!”