Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, November 4: IN JACKSON HEIGHTS
Frederick Wiseman’s portrait of NYC’s most diverse neighborhood had its world premiere at Venice this Fall. It has gone on to screen at Toronto, Zurich, London, Tokyo, Chicago, and the New York Film Festival, among others.
As in other works, Wiseman drops the viewer directly into his setting, offering an immersion into the vibrant Queens community and its many cultures and subcultures. Thoroughly a celebration of the local, the film flits effortlessly between various public spaces, more often than not highlighting a sense of community and inclusion. Wiseman’s camera spends time with an assembly of small business owners concerned about gentrification, a circle of gay seniors, a meeting of undocumented people, and a trans support group. He checks in on educational efforts in the neighborhood, from Arabic language lessons to an over-the-top taxi training course. Weaving in the sounds and sights of Jackson Heights – the long-established Queens Pride parade, groups of musicians, shop signs – Wiseman creates an uplifting, engrossing, and sprawling city symphony with his 40th nonfiction feature.
what (not) to doc 