High School (film)
Encyclopedia
High School is a 1968 American documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman
, which follows the typical day of a group of students at Northeast High School
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. It was one of the first direct cinema
(or cinéma vérité
) documentaries. It was shot over five weeks in March and April of 1968 just after the controversial acquittal of the police officers who had beaten Rodney King[5]. The film was banned from being shown in Philadelphia for a number of years due to the way it depicted high schoolers as being oppressed. Few Northeast students, faculty or administrators actually saw the film, so this perception was largely based on hear-say, newspaper editorials and anger over not being able to see the film.
The film was released in October 1968 by Wiseman's distribution company Zipporah Films. It was well received when the principal and the staff in the board of education saw it in December 1968. They thought the film was a mostly accurate picture of the school. However, Northeast's principal, Mabel Haller, announced in Philadelphia that she ought to have some rights to censorship over the film, since parts of the film were taken out of context. For example, one scene shows an English Literature class listening to records while students in the back row are sleeping. In fact, the desks in classroom were pushed together to make room for the film crew and the teacher, Mrs. London, was told not to try to lecture that day. As a result of similar controversies and misrepresentations, the film hasn’t yet been screened in Philadelphia. However, like most of Wiseman’s films, High School has been aired on PBS Television. Wiseman distributes his own films (DVDs and 16mm prints) through Zipporah Films, which rents them to high schools, colleges, and libraries on a five-year long-term lease. The film was selected in 1991 for preservation in the National Film Registry
.
Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wiseman is an American documentary filmmaker. He came to documentary filmmaking after first being trained as a lawyer...
, which follows the typical day of a group of students at Northeast High School
Northeast High School (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Northeast High School is a high school located at 1601 Cottman Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States....
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. It was one of the first direct cinema
Direct Cinema
Direct Cinema is a documentary genre that originated between 1958 and 1962 in North America, principally in the Canadian province of Quebec and the United States...
(or cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
) documentaries. It was shot over five weeks in March and April of 1968 just after the controversial acquittal of the police officers who had beaten Rodney King[5]. The film was banned from being shown in Philadelphia for a number of years due to the way it depicted high schoolers as being oppressed. Few Northeast students, faculty or administrators actually saw the film, so this perception was largely based on hear-say, newspaper editorials and anger over not being able to see the film.
The film was released in October 1968 by Wiseman's distribution company Zipporah Films. It was well received when the principal and the staff in the board of education saw it in December 1968. They thought the film was a mostly accurate picture of the school. However, Northeast's principal, Mabel Haller, announced in Philadelphia that she ought to have some rights to censorship over the film, since parts of the film were taken out of context. For example, one scene shows an English Literature class listening to records while students in the back row are sleeping. In fact, the desks in classroom were pushed together to make room for the film crew and the teacher, Mrs. London, was told not to try to lecture that day. As a result of similar controversies and misrepresentations, the film hasn’t yet been screened in Philadelphia. However, like most of Wiseman’s films, High School has been aired on PBS Television. Wiseman distributes his own films (DVDs and 16mm prints) through Zipporah Films, which rents them to high schools, colleges, and libraries on a five-year long-term lease. The film was selected in 1991 for preservation in the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
.