Nicolas Philibert
Upon being asked why his films are all set in institutions, he replies, It's not so much institutions that interest me: It's learning to live together. It's not so easy to learn to respect others and their idiosyncracies. In 2004 we screened La Ville Louvre aka Louvre City, Un animal, des animaux aka Animals, and La Pays des sourds aka land of the deaf. This retrospective is made possible by the generous support of the French Embassy
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French director Nicolas Philibert is clearly a follower of the Frederick Wiseman approach to documaking, basically 'Shoot everything and get out of the way.' What distinguishes Philibert's films from those by other documentarians? The most salient characteristic is that they are about process rather than product. He does not care about a tour of a school for the deaf in In The Land of the Deaf (1992). Instead he 
prefers to leisurely follow students not only at school, but also in their homes and the places where they hang out. Walking into museums and viewing mounted exhibitions bore him: He would rather survey the minutiae involved in putting them together, as you can see in both Animals (1994) and Louvre City (1990).