BFI LFF 2017: EX LIBRIS - THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY (Dir. Frederick Wiseman)

A three and a quarter hour documentary about a library may not sound like the most enticing of prospects and yet, Frederick Wiseman’s glimpse into the comings, goings and inner workings of the New York Public Library is riveting and absolutely worth taking the time to savour.

As libraries go, the New York Public Library with its 209 branches is a million miles away from the stuffy village sites that would spring to my mind. Wiseman takes his camera to many of the locations found on the streets, corners and in the suburbs of the continuously unfurling city. He’s there simply to observe how people use the facilities available to them and how the management work to continually provide their patrons with the means to live, learn and connect with the wider world.

I never understood the appeal of the slew of ‘slow tv’ programmes (inspired by similar projects in Scandinavia), such as the two hour sleigh ride in Norway, 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle or a bus ride through North Yorkshire dales. Wiseman’s documentary style has more in common with these unedited snapshots (his film about London’s National Gallery nominally kicked off BBC 4’s ‘slow tv’ season) than the more traditional collection of talking heads, but the way he cuts around his observational snapshots gives each one a clear meaning.

He sometimes captures just a few minutes of lectures and talks on topics ranging from the enslavement of clerics in 17^th century to the prominence of Jewish delicatessens in early 20^th century New York, but there’s always a coherent and salient idea to be garnered. Ex Libris is a film for the people watchers out there and inherent proof that simply watching people writing, typing, reading and listening can be captivating. Across the music performances, poetry recitals and author talks, Wiseman captures the faces – some more attentive than others – of the diverse range of people in the audience. 

You’ll cheer on the group of young children trying to program their table top robot correctly at coding workshop and think quietly of the man diligently researching colorectal cancer screenings. Ex Libris is a film that captures mankind’s continual pursuit of enlightenment and betterment of themselves and their children, and the passionate people from whom they learn and the communal spaces where they meet.

Wiseman regularly returns to discussions about the library’s future and the notion of what a library’s purpose should be in the digital age. Libraries are so often thought of as repositories for books but Wiseman shows, through snippets of various management and subcommittee meetings at both the main Schwarzman building and some of the smaller branches, how the NYPL has to continually evolve to provide a service to all New York residents, to channel their public and private funding into the areas most in need of it, and to balance public demand with a responsibility to ensure items or works are available if and when demand arises in the future. 

Planning for the future feels particularly important; if you leave Ex Libris with just one thought, it’s that a gateway to knowledge, such as the one provided by the New York Public Library, should be looked after for many years to come.

Ex Libris screens at the 61st BFI London Film Festival.

Click HERE for screening and ticket details.