Documentary Dilemmas Frederick Wiseman's Titicut Follies

A case history of the only American film under court-imposed restrictions for reasons other than obscenity or national security. Titicut Folliesis an excoriating depiction of conditions in the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Bridgewater, a prison-hospital for the criminally insane. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts took Wiseman to court, seeking to prevent the exhibition ofTiticut Folliessoon after its release in 1967. This account of theTiticut Folliescase is based on ten years of research and relies on interviews, journalistic accounts, and especially on the legal record, including theCommonwealth v. Wisemantranscript, to describe the entire process of independent documentary filmmaking. The trials ofTiticut Folliesraise crucial questions about the relation of social documentary to its subjects and audiences.Anderson, Carolyn is the author of 'Documentary Dilemmas Frederick Wiseman's Titicut Follies' with ISBN 9780809315185 and ISBN 0809315181.