City government touches almost every aspect of our lives. Most of us are unaware of or take for granted these necessary services such as police, fire, sanitation, veterans affairs, elder support, parks, licensing of various professional activities, recordkeeping of birth, marriage and death as well as hundreds of other activities that support a city’s residents, businesses and visitors. CITY HALL, by Frederick Wiseman, shows the efforts by Boston city government to provide these services. The film also illustrates the variety of ways the city administration enters into civil discourse with the citizens of Boston. Mayor Martin J. Walsh and his administration are presented addressing a number of their policy priorities which include racial justice, affordable housing, climate action, and homelessness. CITY HALL shows a city government successfully offering a wide variety of services to a diverse population. (Kanopy.com)

Sara Rushing, one of the event organizers, reminds us that, “City government is one of the most important things we share!” CITY HALL is the first of MSU’s 2026 Spring Public Events Series, “Public Things: Conditions for a Sustainable Democracy.”

CITY Hall is 4.5 hours long, so please feel free to attend any or all of the screening. There will be a break for a panel discussion from 5:30-6:30p with Bozeman Mayor-Elect Douglas Fisher, Gallatin County Commissioner Jen Boyer, Senator Cora Neuman, Representative Peter Strand, Bozeman City Attorney Greg Sullivan and Faculty Senate Chair Rob Maher.

When: January 22nd starting at 4pm
Where: MSU Procrastinator Theater, Strand Union Building, 751 Grant Avenue

For previews of CITY HALL, please visit https://www.pbs.org/show/city-hall/
For a review of CITY HALL, please visit https://www.npr.org/2020/10/30/929100380/an-action-packed-doc-about-local-government-its-all-in-wiseman-s-city-hall