13 Nov

13:45

Pathé City

Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 15-19, Amsterdam

Frederick Wiseman's 1990 documentary captures a summer in New York's Central Park, featuring diverse scenes including the Gay Parade and the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Fri, 13 Nov 2026 13:45

Pathé City, Amsterdam

Wed, 18 Nov 2026 13:30

Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam

Central Park

More info & tickets

Why is this film of queer interest?
Frederick Wiseman's immersive documentary captures a snapshot of New York City life in 1988, a pivotal time in queer history. The film takes us to the Gay Parade and features a particularly moving segment on the AIDS Memorial Quilt, bearing the names of countless victims of the epidemic. It offers a poignant look at queer community, celebration, and grief during this era.

Synopsis

The summer of 1988 in New York’s Central Park, Frederick Wiseman takes us from a wedding ceremony to a ‘dinosaur meeting’, from a poetry masterclass to a solitary practitioner of Tai Chi. Wiseman takes us along to the Gay Parade, invites us to a bombastic speech by former mayor Ed Koch, and to concerts by Midnight Oil and Pavarotti.

We encounter lonely joggers, fanatical gardeners, and desperate peace fighters. We take part in heated discussions about an old tennis house, we drink a cocktail with some flashy housewives that seem to claim the supervision of Central Park. Wiseman shows these sequences with a generous dose of irony.

Yet one subject seems to have been shot with more emotion than all the others: the Quilt, the enormous memorial displayed in Central Park bearing the names of countless victims of AIDS. The innocent curiosity of children admiring its beautiful panels stands in poignant contrast to the profound grief expressed by a mother mourning her son. Central Park forces us to look in the mirror, to laugh at ourselves, and ultimately to recognize the relativity of our place within the larger world.