Frederick Wiseman observes the Zoli Modeling Agency on New York's East 67th Street, capturing auditions, portfolio reviews, training sessions, commercial shoots, and management meetings. The film reveals emotional and hierarchical dynamics between aspiring models and agents, delicately capturing moments of rejection and success, ambition and anxiety, evaluation and training. Model sharply exposes the labor hidden behind beauty and the transactional nature of image production, creating a social portrait of the fashion industry and its systematic construction of appearance.

Frederick Wiseman’s Model offers a multifaceted portrait of the high-fashion modeling world, spanning TV commercials, magazine covers, designer collections, and even auto ads. Beginning at New York’s Zoli Agency—both a gateway for aspiring models and a broker for their careers—the film moves between counseling sessions, portfolio reviews, and client meetings, tracing the intricate intersections of fashion, commerce, advertising, and fantasy.

Wiseman’s camera is anything but passive: it focuses, observes, and seeks to articulate an intelligence about its subject. Alongside charting the daily rhythms of the modeling world, the film delves into the meticulous thought processes that shape the creation of an image.

Extreme close-ups of models at work reveal their precise control over movement and expression, and at times, an ineffable mystery in their faces. In the end, Model is about talent, money, kinetic style, and the aspirational visions that—if only for a moment—allow us to believe in ideal worlds.

• ProducerFrederick WISEMAN
• Cinematography John DAVEY
• Edit Frederick WISEMAN
• Sound Frederick WISEMAN

Zipporah Films​​