Catch the Columbus premiere of City Hall, the latest project by legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. The film captures the efforts of Boston city government to provide essential public services while revealing the ways its policies address racial justice, affordable housing, climate action, and more.
Although city government touches almost every aspect of our daily lives—taking care of sanitation and safety—it can be easy to take for granted the many activities necessary to support a local population: veterans affairs; parks and recreation maintenance; record keeping of birth, marriage, and death.
One of our country’s greatest living filmmakers and the force behind more than five decades of documentaries that investigate how our institutions work, Wiseman explains that “I made City Hall to illustrate why government is necessary for people to successfully live together. City Hall shows a city government offering a wide variety of important and necessary services to a major American city whose population exemplifies the history of diversity of America. The Boston city government is designed and strives to offer these services in a manner consistent with the Constitution and democratic norms. Boston’s city government is the opposite of what Trump stands for.”
Wiseman visited the Wex in 2006 for a retrospective of his work and received an Honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2016. (275 mins., digital video)
Keep watching after the film for a conversation between Wiseman and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
More about the film
• Critic’s Pick: “’City Hall’ Review: Frederick Wiseman, for the People,” New York Times
• Critic’s Pick: “’City Hall’ Review: America Would Be a Better Place If Everyone Watched Wiseman’s 4.5-Hour Epic,” Indiewire
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MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
American Electric Power Foundation
L Brands Foundation
The Columbus Foundation
Ohio Arts Council
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Huntington Bank
Nationwide Foundation
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Kaufman Development
Cardinal Health Foundation
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City Hall