Titicut Follies

If someone were to ask for indisputable evidence of the documentary form’s capacity to deliver the deepest of shocks, Titicut Follies might well work as a most direct answer. Focusing its lens on the patient-inmates of a hospital for the criminally insane in Massachusetts, the film in question (which sparked heated debate in its time over whether it infringed the rights of the inmates, violating their privacy and dignity) is of the sort that sears itself forever on the mind the moment it is seen. Seldom has the disquieting contiguity between the human mind and the abyss been captured so arrestingly, or more disturbingly; seldom has the documentary better managed to function as a guide through the darkness of a silenced parallel reality, giving it voice – or rather, to be more precise, letting it cry out.

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Direction: Frederick Wiseman

Cinematography: John Marshall

Editing: Frederick Wiseman

Production: Bridgewater Film

Producers: Frederick Wiseman

Format: DCP

Color: B/W

Production Country: USA

Production Year: 1967

Duration: 84'

Contact: Zipporah Films

Awards/Distinctions: Best Film – Mannheim International Filmweek 1967, Best Film Dealing with the Human Condition – Festival dei Popoli 1967, National Film Registry – Library of Congress 2022

Frederick Wiseman

Filmography

1967 Titicut Follies
1968 High School
1971 Basic Training
1975 Welfare
1989 Central Park
1995 Ballet
2001 Domestic Violence
2014 National Gallery
2020 City Hall
2023 Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros