Trailer

City Hall

Runtime
4hrs 32mins
Directed by
Frederick Wiseman
Featuring
Marty Walsh
Body

Through our Virtual Screening Room, you can rent films curated by the Coolidge team, while helping to support the Coolidge during this unprecedented time.

Following your rental, keep watching for a pre-recorded conversation between director Frederick Wiseman and Mayor Marty Walsh, moderated by The Boston Globe's Ty Burr.

City government touches almost every aspect of our lives. Most of us are unaware of or take for granted these necessary services such as police, fire, sanitation, veterans affairs, elder support, parks, licensing of various professional activities, recordkeeping of birth, marriage and death as well as hundreds of other activities that support Boston residents and visitors.

City Hall, by Frederick Wiseman, shows the efforts by Boston city government to provide these services. The film also illustrates the variety of ways the city administration enters into civil discourse with the citizens of Boston. Mayor Walsh and his administration are presented addressing a number of their policy priorities which include racial justice, affordable housing, climate action, and homelessness. City Hall shows a city government successfully offering a wide variety of services to a diverse population.

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Due to the length of this film, viewers will have 30 days to begin watching after renting, and 7 days to complete the film once they hit play. Having technical issues? Visit our FAQ page here.

Reviews
Review Text

More than anything, Wiseman is showing us that we are not only watching Bostonians, but Americans, too.

Review Author
Jordan Mintzer
Review Publication
Hollywood Reporter
Review Text

90-year-old documentary legend Frederick Wiseman delivers another sprawling and enlightening work at the way society is supposed to work.

Review Author
Eric Kohn
Review Publication
IndieWire
Review Text

The result is both sober and inspiring: an urban progress report taking into account a plethora of government services, scutinized by Wiseman's patient but unblinking eye.

Review Author
Guy Lodge
Review Publication
Variety

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