Seeing things Wiseman’s way
Three filmmaking luminaries will give the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures this year, with legendary documentarian Frederick Wisemandelivering the first of a two-part talk on Monday. Agnès Varda, whose most recent film, “Faces Places,” earned her an Oscar nomination this month, and Wim Wenders (“Paris, Texas,” “Wings of Desire”) will follow in late February and early April, respectively. Hosted by the Mahindra Humanities Center, the “Wide Angle” lectures celebrate the trio’s contributions as artists and activists.
Wiseman will arrive on campus having just signed an agreement with Kanopy, a free streaming platform for libraries and universities, to add his 41 films to the catalog this spring. The deal was hailed by Haden Guest, director of the Harvard Film Archive, which will screen work by Wiseman, Varda, and Wenders over the next three weeks.
“Wiseman’s films need to be seen, especially by those who need to learn about the most basic institutions that change our world,” said Guest. “Anyone studying medicine should see ‘Near Death.’ Anyone teaching at a university should see ‘At Berkeley’ — not just film students — and see how necessary and urgent they are.”
Wiseman, who splits his time between Cambridge and Paris, has long trained his lens on the workings of institutions, from hospitals to community centers to the military. Freedom from corporate or commercial interests has allowed him to create documentaries that run as long as six hours. His latest film is ‘Ex Libris — The New York Public Library.’