Frederick Wiseman is a legendary documentary filmmaker, whose films of the last fifty years generally provide a comprehensive, yet organic investigation into a single institution each and include such titles as Titicut Follies (1967), High School (1968), Hospital (1970), Welfare (1975), Near Death (1989), Public Housing (1997), and La danse (2009).

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to Mr. Wiseman at length about his latest feature, At Berkeley (2013). The film had its North American premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and Frederick joined us at our studio in OCAD U to discuss public education, the dramatic structure of the film, the role of editing in his films, and much more.

Our interview with Frederick Wiseman was conducted in September of 2013 and was one of four feature interviews in the seventeenth monthly issue of The Seventh Art as a “video magazine.” It was released in December 2013 and is part of our TIFF 2013 coverage, along with interviews with Albert Serra, Corneliu Porumboiu, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Ben Wheatley, Ben Rivers & Ben Russell, Don McKellar, Lukas Moodysson, Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez, João Pedro Rodrigues, Ramon Zürcher, Götz Spielmann, Elina Psikou, Mark Peranson, Erik Skjoldbjærg, Bruce LaBruce, Aran Hughes & Christina Koutsospyrou, and Frank Pavich.