28 Quotes by Frederick Wiseman

Whether you're a newspaper journalist, a lawyer, a doctor. You have to organize your thoughts.

Anybody whose mind is functioning at all can't be content with the way the world works.

You have to edit the material. That assumes that some kind of a mind is operating in relation to the material. Not all minds are the same. Every aspect of filmmaking requires choice. The selection of the subject, the shooting, editing and length are all aspects of choice.

I don't like to read novels where the novelist tells me what to think about the situation and the characters. I prefer to discover for myself.

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 addition to all the print material, they'll have all these pictures to look at.

My goal is to make as many films as possible about different aspects of American life.

There are lots of different ways to make film. I don't believe there has to be any orthodox way to making movies, or any rules. It's what works for the filmmaker, and, theoretically, the audience.

They're all movies. I've always just done whatever interested me and this interested me. I never felt any need to rationalize to myself or to anyone else why I chose to do a fiction film. Maybe I'll do another fiction film, maybe I won't; maybe I'll do another documentary, maybe I won't.

Making movies is an effort, is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence.