{"id":402,"date":"2012-01-18T22:24:40","date_gmt":"2012-01-18T22:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/?p=402"},"modified":"2012-02-14T21:28:14","modified_gmt":"2012-02-14T21:28:14","slug":"wiseman-titicut-follies-at-the-ifc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/?p=402","title":{"rendered":"Frederick Wiseman & Titicut Follies at the IFC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/strong>We uncover gaps in our know- ledge -\u2013and those of our students \u2013\u2013all the time.<\/p>\n

This past fall I mentioned the name and work of Frederick Wiseman to students in my Documentary Film Workshop\u00a0course,\u00a0 and they responded with an awkward silence.\u00a0 Remedial viewing was obviously called for!\u00a0 Then Wiseman was scheduled to show Titicut Follies<\/em> (1967) at Stranger Than Fiction in NYC on Tuesday, January 17th.\u00a0 So we went!\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Titicut Follies<\/em> (1967)<\/p>\n

I’ve heard Wiseman speak quite a few times and seen Titicut Follies<\/em> numerous times over the years.\u00a0 In fact, Fred (the presumption on being on a first name basis does not feel entirely earned) received the Yale Film Studies Program Award in 2001–and has been to Yale on a number of different occasions. (He graduated from Yale Law School in 1954.)<\/p>\n

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Photo by Yelin Qiu<\/p><\/div>\n

Besides the adventure of caravaning down to New York City with a group of students, there were a few things that made this experience a little different.<\/p>\n

First. Because the film could only be shown under restricted circumstances for many years, I had always seen the film in a classroom or at least academic context (\u00a0like many other students in Film Studies).\u00a0 This meant having a range of nontheatrical viewing experiences as a norm.\u00a0 In contrast, the IFC showed a brand new print, and its projection was first rate.\u00a0 In short, it was a theatrical experience–cinema and, of course, a cinefilic experience. So the narrative and performative aspects of the film, as well as the absurdist and surreal sensibility, came out quite strongly.\u00a0 I suddenly felt that the early battle around censorship of Titicut Follies<\/em> and the instrumental assumption that the film’s purpose was that of social reform have produced a particular set of somewhat limited analyses of the film.\u00a0 Although Wiseman’s discussions of Titicut Follies<\/em> generally reinforces this view, his picture has quite a bit in common with Shirley Clarke’s The Connection<\/em> (1961).\u00a0 And Wiseman had, of course, produced Clarke’s feature The Cool World<\/em> (1964).\u00a0 Some of his scenes shot in the prison yard reminded me of the opening scenes of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Second, my discussions with Errol Morris about Wiseman’s work have encouraged me to look at his films from a slightly different vantage point.\u00a0 Errol’s favorite Wiseman film is Sinai Field Mission<\/em> (1978), which came out the same year as his own Gates of Heaven<\/em>.\u00a0 He sees that little known Wiseman film as an absurdist comedy, which strikes me as an astute reading.\u00a0 Perhaps some of Wiseman’s other films can and even should be seen from this perspective?\u00a0 Despite its depiction of desperation, degradation and despair, an element of black comedy does run through Titicut Follies<\/em>–as even the title suggests.<\/p>\n

Normally I run into a number of documentary filmmakers at these STF events, but I suspect that many of them were waiting to go to the opening of Crazy Horse<\/em>, which was opening at Film Forum the following evening.\u00a0 The exception was Susan Meiselas, whom I got to know a little through Julia Preston and Richard Rogers.\u00a0\u00a0 By total chance I sat down right in front of her.\u00a0 It turns out that, among other things, she was an assistant editor on Wiseman’s Basic Training<\/em>.\u00a0 When I was trying to get a group photo of my students with Wiseman and looking for someone to snap the picture–Susan was standing right there.<\/p>\n

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photo by Susan Meiselas<\/p><\/div>\n

Li Jing, a post-doc from China who works at CCTV as a producer\/director, videotaped the Wiseman\u00a0Q & A\u00a0\u00a0 (led by former Yale Film Studies major Hugo Perez).\u00a0 She used her cell phone and we are working on boosting the sound.\u00a0 So here it is:<\/p>\n