City-wide retrospective to feature freshly-restored films by the iconic documentarian

On May 10, 2025, MassArt will offer screenings of three rarely-seen films: THE LAST LETTER, DEAF, AND MEAT

BOSTON — Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) joins The Brattle Theatre, Coolidge Corner Theatre, IFFBoston, Museum of Fine Arts Boston (MFA), and Somerville Theatre in celebrating renowned Boston-born filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, offering screenings of three of his rarely-seen films.

The MassArt screenings, which all take place on Saturday, May 10, are free and open to the public with no ticket required (RSVP recommended) and will take place at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, in the DMC Lecture Hall. 

MassArt is particularly honored to be a part of this historic celebration, as the College presented Wiseman with a Common Good Award, in recognition of his career and work, in December 2024. 

Throughout his nearly six-decade career, Wiseman has been steadily and unflinchingly chronicling institutional life in America and abroad.

“Frederick Wiseman is one of our greatest living documentary filmmakers, and it is an honor to work together to pay tribute to his storied career,” said the participating film institutions in a joint statement.

Wiseman himself adds, “I am very pleased that the Brattle, Coolidge, MFA, Somerville, IFFBoston, and MassArt are collaborating on the retrospective of my films. It is a great honor for me that the theaters I spent so much time in, at various stages of my life, are working together to show the films.”

MassArt Screenings

The Last Letter

Frederick Wiseman, 2002, U.S., 62m

Saturday, May 10, 2:30pm

The Last Letter follows a mother who was locked away in a Jewish ghetto of an occupied Ukrainian town in 1941 as she revisits her life in a last letter to her son, who was safe outside enemy lines. The letter, with its detailed observations of daily life in a ghetto, reveals the fear, courage, frailty, compassion and dignity of this woman as she reviews her life and faces her death.

Deaf

Frederick Wiseman, 1986, U.S., 164m

Saturday, May 10, 4pm

The School for the Deaf at the Alabama Institute is organized around a theory of total communication, i.e. the use of signs and finger spelling in conjunction with speech, hearing aids, lip reading, gestures and the written word. The film shows sequences dealing with various aspects of this comprehensive training such as teaching students and parents to sign; speech therapy; psychological counseling; regular academic courses; vocational training; disciplinary problems; parents visits; sports and recreational activity; training in living and working independently; and developing skills in home and money management.

Meat

Frederick Wiseman, 1976, U.S., 113m

Saturday, May 10, 7:15pm

MEAT traces the process through which cattle and sheep become consumer goods. It depicts the processing and transportation of meat products by a highly automated packing plant, illustrating important points and problems in the area of production, transportation, logistics, equipment design, time-motion study, and labor management.

The celebration of Wiseman’s work began on March 1 with a screening of his best-known and most controversial film Titicut Follies at the MFA. This wide-ranging retrospective features a selection of films spanning decades of the iconic filmmaker’s prolific career, including many of the 33 classics newly restored in 4K following a five-year restoration process by Zipporah Films and overseen by Wiseman.

A full schedule of screenings is listed below. Showtimes and ticket prices vary; please visit organization websites for details. Additional screenings and showtimes TBA.

The Brattle: https://brattlefilm.org/film-series/frederick-wiseman/ Coolidge Corner Theatre: https://coolidge.org/wiseman 

IFFBoston: https://iffboston.org/

MFA: https://www.mfa.org/series/two-films-by-frederick-wiseman Somerville Theatre: https://www.somervilletheatre.com/

MassArt: https://calendar.massart.edu/

FILM SCHEDULE (listed by date)

Aspen

Frederick Wiseman, 1991, U.S., 146m

Aspen is an exploration during the winter months of the daily life and activities of the people who live, work, visit, and play in Aspen, famous in the 19th century for silver mining and now known for its scenic splendor, mountains, skiing, hiking, music, intellectual activity, and fashionable people.

Somerville Theatre, Tuesday, April 15, 7pm

Tickets: https://www.somervilletheatre.com/

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet

Frederick Wiseman, 2009, U.S., 158m

The Paris Opera Ballet is one of the world’s great ballet companies. The film follows the rehearsals and performances of seven ballets: Genus by Wayne McGregor, Le Songe de Medée by Angelin Preljocaj, La Maison de Bernarda by Mats Ek, Paquita by Pierre Lacotte, Casse Noisette by Rudolph Nureyev, Orphée and Eurydice by Pina Bausch, and Romeo and Juliette by Sasha Waltz. The film shows the work involved in administering the company and the coordinated and collaborative work of choreographers, ballet masters, dancers, musicians, and costume, set, and lighting designers.

Coolidge Corner Theatre, Thursday, April 17, 7pm
Tickets: www.coolidge.org

Central Park

Frederick Wiseman, 1990, U.S., 176m

Central Park focuses on the famous New York City landmark and the variety of ways people make use of it, while illustrating the complex problems the New York City Parks Department deals with in order to maintain and preserve the park and keep it open and accessible to the public.

Coolidge Corner Theatre, Wednesday, April 23, 7pm
Tickets: www.coolidge.org

Zoo

Frederick Wiseman, 1993, U.S., 130m

Zoo is a film about the Miami Zoo, the care and maintenance of the animals by the keepers, the work of the veterinarians and their staff, and the visits to the zoo by people from all over the world. The film presents the wide diversity of interests and activities at the zoo and the interrelatedness of the animal, human, ethical, financial, technical, organizational, and research aspects of its operation.

Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFBoston), Sunday, April 27, at a time and venue TBA
Tickets: https://iffboston.org/

Boxing Gym

Frederick Wiseman, 2010, U.S., 91m

The subject of the film is an Austin, Texas institution, Lord’s Gym, which was founded over twenty years ago by Richard Lord, a former professional boxer. A wide variety of people of all

ages, races, ethnicities and social classes train at the gym: men, women, children, doctors, lawyers, judges, business men and women, immigrants, professional boxers and people who want to become professional boxers alongside amateurs who love the sport and teenagers who are trying to develop strength and assertiveness. The gym is an example of the American

“melting pot” where people meet, talk, and train.

Somerville Theatre, Tuesday, May 6, 7pm

Tickets: https://www.somervilletheatre.com/

Public Housing

Frederick Wiseman, 1997, U.S., 195m

Public Housing documents daily life at the Ida B. Wells public housing development in Chicago. The film illustrates some of the experiences of people living in conditions of extreme poverty. Events include the work of the tenants’ council, street life, the role of police, job training programs, drug education, teenage mothers, dysfunctional families, elderly residents, nursery school, after-school teenage programs, and the activities of the city, state, and federal governments in maintaining and changing public housing.

Somerville Theatre, Tuesday, May 20, 6:30pm

Tickets: https://www.somervilletheatre.com/

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About MassArt
The only independent public college of art and design in the country, MassArt was founded in 1873 in response to a bold idea: art and design are essential to our daily lives, and key to improving our society and economy. What began as a school to teach drawing is today a bold, comprehensive art and design institution that spans 18 undergraduate and nine graduate programs, certificates, continuing education, and post-baccalaureate study.

About Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wiseman is a film and theater director of 46 films, primarily focusing on American institutions. His most recent film, MENUS-PLAISIRS – Les Troisgros was released in fall 2023. In 2019, he was the honoree of the Library Lions Award from the New York Public Library and received the Pennebaker Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards. In 2018, he was the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University. In 2016, he received an Honorary Award for lifetime achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors. He is a MacArthur Fellow, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has won numerous awards, including four Emmys®. In recent years, he directed The Belle of Amherst, Beckett’s Happy Days in Paris and Vasily Grossman’s The Last Letter at the Comédie-Française in Paris and Theatre for a New Audience in New York. A ballet inspired by his first film, TITICUT FOLLIES (1967), premiered at the New York University Skirball Theater in 2017.

About Zipporah Films
Zipporah Films was founded in 1971 by Frederick Wiseman as the exclusive world-wide distribution and production company of all his films. The 33 film project involved new versions of the films restored in 4K from the 16mm image negative and original sound. Digitization and color grading were carried out at DuArt and Goldcrest laboratories in New York. Digital restoration by Jane Tolmachyov, supervised by Frederick Wiseman and produced by Karen Konicek. A presentation and restoration by Zipporah Films with the participation of the Library of Congress.

For more information on Frederick Wiseman and his films visit www.zipporah.com. mTuckmanMedia has handled the theatrical releases in North America for Zipporah Films dating back to LA DANSE in 2009.