Frederick Wiseman

“The subject of my movies is the common-place.”

“I'm trying to give a sense of what it's like to be in that place.”

“A movie is a construction, a fiction, whether it's a documentary or not.”

“I don't think there's any such thing as a definitive film.”

“I think what I'm trying to do is create a cinematic experience that's as close as I can get to the experience of being there.”

“You have to be a novelist, a playwright, and a journalist all at the same time.”

“I'm not interested in making a propaganda film.”

“The basis of my films is the idea that the dramatic structure of a film should be a discovery.”

“The editing is what gives the film its meaning and rhythm.”

“All my films are about the way things are.”

“I try to make the movies as complex as the experience I had.”

“I think that all my films are comedies in one way or another.”

“I make films about institutions, but I'm not against institutions per se.”

“Reality is a lot more interesting than my imagination.”

“I don't start with a thesis.”