NPS Standalone
Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros
Frederick Wiseman's film showcases the Troisgros family restaurant in France, which has held three Michelin stars for 55 years over four generations.
In Jackson Heights
Frederick Wiseman's 40th documentary In Jackson Heights is about the racially and ethnically diverse neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens, New York.
- Series
- NPS Standalone
- Premiere Date
- January 6, 2017
- Length
- 210 minutes
Director
Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wiseman is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theater director. In 2017, The New York Times called him "one of the most important and original filmmakers working today." His films include Titicut Follies, In Jackson Heights, Ex Libris, City Hall, Monrovia, Indiana, At Berkeley, and Menus-Plaisirs—Les Troisgros.
We fund untold stories for public media.
Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.
The Film
Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in the United States and the world. There are immigrants from every country in South America, from Mexico, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and China. Some are citizens, some have green cards, some are without documents. The people who live in Jackson Heights, in their cultural, racial and ethnic diversity, are representative of the new wave of immigrants to America. 167 languages are spoken there.
Some of the issues In Jackson Heights raises—assimilation, integration, immigration and cultural and religious differences—are common to all the major cities of the Western world. The subject of the film is the daily life of the people in this community—their businesses, community centers, religions, and political, cultural and social lives—and the conflict between maintaining ties to traditions of the countries of origin and the need to learn and adapt to American ways and values.
This is Frederick Wiseman’s third film about communities, the others being Aspen and Belfast, Maine. In these films, as in all his films, he is trying to present a broad and complex portrait of contemporary life.
