Frederick Wiseman dead: Hollywood legend dies as heartbroken family speak out

American film director Frederick Wiseman has died at the age of 96. In their moving tribute, his family remembered his "unparalleled body of work." In a joint statement with his production company, Zipporah Films, they penned: "For nearly six decades, Frederick Wiseman created an unparalleled body of work, a sweeping cinematic record of contemporary social institutions and ordinary human experience primarily in the United States and France." They added: "He will be deeply missed by his family, friends, colleagues, and the countless filmmakers and audiences around the world whose lives and perspectives were shaped by his unique vision."

Frederick is remembered as one of the most admired and influential filmmakers and even won an honorary Academy Award in 2016 after creating 36 documentaries. Much of his work was aired on TV, spotlighted in film festivals, praised by critics and fellow directors and preserved by the Library of Congress.

Frederick's much-loved titles include City Hall, which focused on Boston’s city government; Ex Libris, a 2017 documentary about the New York Public Library; and 2015's In Jackson Heights, about a neighbourhood in the New York borough of Queens.

Tributes have poured in for the late filmmaker, with fans and famous names paying homage, including the Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, who penned: "Frederick Wiseman changed the way we see the world.

"From the classrooms of High School to the corridors of Hospital, he turned his camera on the institutions that shape us — inviting us to look closer, sit longer and confront truth with empathy. May his memory be a blessing."

Prolific film critic Richard Brody added: "In memory and honour of Frederick Wiseman, who took hold of a still-young format and, guided from the start by an unyielding sense of principle, made a body of work so original, idea-rich, and unified that it seems foreordained—a historic fusion of investigation and the inner life."

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As one fan added: "While he was here, Frederick Wiseman was the most curious man alive. He came to filmmaking late, at 36, and spent the next six decades making a body of work that allows us to move through the world in a new way. How beautiful is that?"

"We are so incredibly blessed that Frederick Wiseman continued to work regularly until his death, a career spanning 56 years of American and world history. Imagine if we hadn't even the last 15 years of his filmmaking. We're better for all of it," shared another heartbroken fan.

After pivoting from law to filmmaking, the late director sparked controversy in 1967 with the release of his second documentary, Titicut Follies, which highlighted life inside a prison hospital.

It was restricted from screens after officials argued that it violated prisoners’ privacy. The ban was eventually relaxed when Superior Court Judge Andrew Meyer ruled the documentary could be shown to the general public if faces were blurred.