First Friday Films presents: “Ex Libris – The New York Public Library”

The film goes behind the scenes of one of the greatest knowledge institutions in the world and reveals it as a place of welcome, cultural exchange and learning. With 92 branches throughout Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, the library is a resource for all the inhabitants of this multifaceted and cosmopolitan city, and beyond.

New York Times -“In “Ex Libris,” democracy is alive and in the hands of a forceful advocate and brilliant filmmaker, which helps make this one of the greatest movies of Mr. Wiseman’s extraordinary career.”

Washington Post – “Frederick Wiseman, the prolific, Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker with a distinctly cinema-vérité style, treats New York’s many library branches as hotbeds of intellectual pursuit and civic engagement … This is slow, almost languid filmmaking, yet it’s a delight to watch the countless ways in which the library is still capable of lifting us.”

Discussion after the film. Entrance free, but donations are welcome.