I'm too busy to be nostalgic, which is one of the reasons to keep busy. I'm not a very sentimental person.
Frederick WisemanI'm drawn to making movies about contemporary life. The reason I choose institutions is because they provide a limit, a boundary.
Frederick WisemanI do not think that my films or films by any other filmmaker represent "THE TRUTH." I do not feel the need to categorize my films or anyone else's.
Frederick WisemanThere's a literal track: who says what to whom, what are people wearing, etcetera. And there's the abstract track: what ideas are suggested by the literal. And the real movie takes place in the relationship between the literal and the abstract.
Frederick WisemanIn moviemaking, you learn to pay attention to detail, because so much is in the detail. And when you're shooting, you try to be very alert to what's going on, even if you're tired.
Frederick WisemanI 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, but realistic in the sense that they're not idealistic, they're not optimistic, not pessimistic, and not propagandistic. They're an analysis of a situation. I call it as I see it, so to speak.
Frederick Wiseman