My job as a film editor is to construct a dramatic narrative because otherwise it's just a chaotic arrangement of sequences. — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share Image
There's the internal rhythm within a sequence, and then there's the rhythm between the sequences, and that's extremely important in constructing the… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share Image
This whole business of documentary being a second-class citizen is bullshit. A documentary can be as interesting, as dramatic, as sad, as… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share Image
I hope that not only my documentaries, but everybody's documentaries, last. It will really confuse historians in the next century, because they'll have, in… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
I do not think that my films or films by any other filmmaker represent "THE TRUTH." I do not feel the need to categorize… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
You have to edit the material. That assumes that some kind of a mind is operating in relation to the material. Not all minds… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
I'm too busy to be nostalgic, which is one of the reasons to keep busy. I'm not a very sentimental person. — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
Unfortunately, I never played an instrument. I can't blame my parents, but I wish I had had music lessons. It's odd because I think… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
I think I've learned a lot about how to make movies, and particularly about how to edit movies by thinking about how similar problems… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
My goal is to make as many films as possible about different aspects of American life. — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
I don't really know what I want, other than good sequences, whatever that means. What I find is always a matter of chance, judgment,… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
Of course there's conscious manipulation! Everything about a movie is manipulation ... If you like it, it's an interpretation. If you don't like it,… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
I think my movies aren't sentimental. I think my movies are funny and sad and realistic. Not realistic in the sense that they're documentaries,… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
Making movies is an effort is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence. — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
One's relationship to time is complicated, and sometimes a day will drag on forever and sometimes it'll be over in a flash. When you… — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
Anybody whose mind is functioning at all can't be content with the way the world works. — Frederick Wiseman Copy Share
