Wiseman, Frederick (1930– )

US documentary film-maker. The hallmark of a Wiseman documentary is its apparently nonintrusive ability simply to record on film and in sound the minutiae of the subject and to leave all interpretation to the viewer.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, after teaching law, he turned to making his own distinctive kind of documentaries, starting with Titicut Follies (1967) and continuing through a long series that focused on US institutions, such as Model (1980), and then increasingly on broader experiences, as in Near Death (1989). He formed his own film company and in later years accepted commissions from television companies and other organizations.