2013 Cannes Film Festival Predictions: Frederick Wiseman’s At Berkeley

#49. Frederick Wiseman’s At Berkeley

Gist: “For the past five weeks, with over 100 hours of film footage, famed documentarian Frederick Wiseman has been working to make UC Berkeley the subject of his 39th film…[and he] expects to continue working for another five weeks, collecting a total of 200 to 250 hours worth of material.” – September, 2010. Originally drawn to UC Berkeley’s academic reputation and complexity, Wiseman intends for this documentary – the first made about the campus – to place “particular emphasis” on the management of the university, his footage ranging from freshmen moving into dorms to football games to department meetings.

Prediction: Made to be aired on PBS, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the great documentarian return to the Fortnight, where his 2010 Boxing Gym had its premiere. Wiseman doesn’t seem to be very picky with his festival, unveiling his films pretty much wherever is most convenient (La Danse bowed in Venice, Crazy Horse at TIFF), so if it’s ready and he isn’t obliged to limit this one to the small screen, we imagine that this’ll play wherever Cannes organizers care to put it (other sections and sidebars aren’t out of the question, too).