An enchanting, multi-award-winning ode to the buzzing hive of the New York Public Library from master documentarian Frederick Wiseman.

"This is a place that is meant to be used by people who make things," says a staff member, a frank understatement of the significance of the New York Public Library. With 92 locations throughout the Big Apple, this bustling, egalitarian network has inspired one of the most creatively verdant cities on earth for over a century.

Ex Libris is lovingly crafted by the 88-year-old veteran, who is almost as much of an American institution as those he documents. The film was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2017 Venice Film Festival, with Wiseman honoured by the US Critics Choice Documentary Awards as Best Director.

Wiseman’s characteristically meticulous study of this expansive service – through cultural programs and senior citizen dances to celebrity public talks and administrative wrangling – reveals the patchwork strength of American culture as it champions the value of knowledge.

"Frederick Wiseman's next instant classic." – IndieWire