Famed director and documentarian Frederick Wiseman - whose works included Titicut Follies, National Gallery and At Berkeley - died at the age of 96 Monday, his family said.
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'For nearly six decades, Frederick Wiseman created an unparalleled body of work, a sweeping cinematic record of contemporary social institutions and ordinary human experience primarily in the United States and France,' a statement from his family and company Zipporah Films read.
The statement continued: 'His films – from Titicut Follies (1967) to his most recent work, Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros (2023) – are celebrated for their complexity, narrative power and humanist gaze.'
The statement noted that Wiseman 'produced and directed all of his 45 films under the banner of Zipporah Films, Inc.'
The Boston-born creative was educated at Williams College and subsequently, Yale Law School.
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His initial motion picture he produced was The Cool World, which chronicled the dealings of a gang in Harlem. He then directed and produced 1967's Titicut Follies, which examined life at Bridgewater State Hospital, an institution for criminals who have been found insane.
Director and documentarian Frederick Wiseman died at the age of 96 Monday, his family said. Pictured at the 2016 Governors Awards
Wiseman - whose works included Titicut Follies, National Gallery and At Berkeley - pictured in 2017 in Venice, Italy
Other notable documentaries Wiseman made included 1997's Public Housing, 2014's National Gallery, 2017's Ex Libris and 2020's City Hall.
Wiseman was honored in the industry with an Honorary Academy Award in 2016.
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Wiseman said of his passion for filmmaking and producing as he accepted the Oscar, 'What’s kept me going is it’s fun and an adventure.
'Constantly working also keeps me off the streets, or at least on the streets that I like.'
The Academy said Wiseman's 'masterful and distinctive documentaries examine the familiar and reveal the unexpected.'
Wiseman also collected three Primetime Emmys: for 1969's Law and Order (Outstanding Achievement in News Documentary Programming - Programs); and two for 1970's Hospital (Outstanding Achievement in News Documentary Programming - Programs, Individuals).
Online, a number of people paid tribute to Wiseman on X, lauding him for his talent, focus and body of work.
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Director Benny Safdie said Wiseman 'simply is one of the greatest filmmakers ever,' adding, 'He mined his worlds and always found the things that make us uniquely human. Gonna listen to the Dangling Conversation.'
Wiseman pictured in 1969, the year he captured the first of three career Primetime Emmy awards
Wiseman pictured in LA at the Governors Awards in November of 2016
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Online, a number of people paid memorial to Wiseman on X, lauding him for his talent, focus and body of work
Director Kasper Collin wrote, 'RIP Frederick Wiseman and thank you for your films.
'Great filmmaker and a giant of an example of what it means to maintain full control over your creative work ... love and respect.'
Said one user, 'A part of my life and who I have become goes away with Frederick Wiseman … the last of the greatest is no more.
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'Thankful for the monumental and inspiring work he left us, in the age of departure from reality let us find the strength and courage to pick up from where he left.'
One user said that Wiseman 'innovated a documentary style that allowed him to see truths about the human condition in a way the medium has not known before.'
A user said Titicut Follies 'literally changed the world in its fly-on-the-wall chronicle of a U.S. mental institution.'
Some commenters drew parallels between the death of Wiseman and Robert Duvall's passing, which was announced earlier Monday
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Wiseman's works 'are celebrated for their complexity, narrative power and humanist gaze,' his family said. Pictured in 2024 in Cannes
Some commenters drew parallels between the death of Wiseman and Robert Duvall's passing, which was announced earlier Monday.
'It’s a double feature of mourning for cinema today: RIP Robert Duvall and Frederick Wiseman,' said one user.
Another added, 'First Robert Duvall, now Frederick Wiseman. A sad day for cinema and particularly for America, which has lost a voice and a conscience.'
Wiseman's spouse Zipporah Batshaw Wiseman, who he was wed to for 65 years, passed away in 2021.
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Wiseman is survived by sons David and Eric, and three grandkids; in addition to Karen Konicek, his collaborator for nearly 50 years.