The Frederick Wiseman retrospective continues outside the walls!

From January 8, 2025, La cinémathèque du documentaire, run by the Bpi, will move to continue its programming mission in two cinema locations in central Paris, right next to the Centre Pompidou.

Daytime screenings are free of charge. They take place at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, which generously welcomes us for our popular education sessions, our documentary film discovery sessions, as well as our school and university sessions.

Evening screenings take place at the Forum des images on Wednesdays and weekends. This major cinema institution provides the Cinémathèque du documentaire with all its know-how for a program as demanding as ever.

Here, the challenge is to show a work that is unequalled in the history of cinema. Indeed, Frederick Wiseman‘s work is a journey across America and France, as well as a journey across the century. Chapter 2 of this complete retrospective continues to take a thematic approach, bringing the films into dialogue with each other, beyond their vast chronology.

The retrospective takes place mainly at the Forum des images until March 19, and in a constellation of associated venues in Paris. We’d like to thank these occasional but invaluable partners, who bear witness to the enthusiasm generated by this unprecedented retrospective: the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, the Louvre, the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, the Mémorial de la Shoah and the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Thanks to these major cultural institutions, the 20 films in Chapter 2 of the retrospective are shown several times during the 54 scheduled screenings. The longest film in the retrospective, Near Death, is presented by Thierry Garrel at the Centre Pompidou on Sunday January 26.

As with Chapter 1, many of our guests will be presenting the Frederick Wiseman films they love and which have made an impression on them: Maylis de Kerangal, Alice Diop, Charlotte Garson, Verena Paravel, Marie-Christine de Navacelle, Virgil Vernier, Jean-Michel Frodon and many others. Of course, Frederick Wiseman will be accompanying several of the screenings, such as Ballet, scheduled for the Musée du Louvre auditorium on Thursday March 6.

While the Frederick Wiseman retrospective takes up most of the scheduled screenings, we can once again offer you our documentary film discovery sessions. These are still held free of charge on Fridays at noon, with the theme of travel. Nine screenings to discover as part of Les yeux doc à midi from January 10 to March 7, at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles. The program culminates in the screening of the 4 films in competition for the 5^th Les yeux doc Audience Award.

We invite you to join us at La cinémathèque du documentaire, run by the Bpi: at the Forum des images, at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles and in associated venues, so that even more of you can enjoy the unique cinematic moments we’ve imagined for you.

To find out all about the program, consult our agenda, or the Winter 2025 brochure!