# Sarah Friedland

Sarah Friedland (born 1992) is an American director and choreographer. Her 2024 debut feature film, Familiar Touch, premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where she won the Orizzonti section's Best Director award and the film won the Luigi de Laurentis Lion of the Future award for best debut feature.

## Early life

Friedland was born in California, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family, with her parents coming from "mixed class identities and divergent interpretations of Jewish identity." She describes her background as a "twin sister that comes from former-hippie-turned-bourgeois, left-wing, Californian, Jewish educators."

## Career

Friedland studied Modern Culture and Media at Brown University, with a minor in dance. She graduated in 2014. She describes herself as "working at the intersection of moving images and moving bodies".
In 2014 she choreographed a live dance performance, "After the Multiplex", after which she continued to incorporate live and experimental dance into her films. Between the years 2017–2022, she created a trilogy of three short films that explore movement in different contexts, especially how they can become dance, and how they are coded with social and political meaning. The first short film, Home Exercises, follows older people as they go through their daily lives; the second, Drills, explores school and workplace preparedness exercises, such as active shooter rehearsals; and the final installment, Trust Exercises, explores how corporate team-building exercises relate to game theory.
In 2023, she was featured as one of "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in Filmmaker Magazine.
Her 2024 feature film, Familiar Touch, had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2024, in the Orizzonti (Horizons) section, where Friedland won the Luigi de Laurentiis prize for best first film, alongside the Best Director award. Lead Kathleen Chalfant won the Best Actress award. In her acceptance speech for the debut award, Friedland made a statement, saying: “As a Jewish American artist working in a time-based medium, I must note, I'm accepting this award on the 336th day of Israel's genocide in Gaza and 76th year of occupation. I believe it is our responsibility as filmmakers to use the institutional platforms through which we work to redress Israel's impunity on the global stage. I stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and their struggle for liberation.”
Familiar Touch is about an octogenarian woman who suffers from dementia and is making the transition to a care facility. To make the film, Friedland set up a workshop at a care facility in Pasadena, Villa Gardens. Residents made their own biographical films, and only after everyone had been immersed in the experience, they became cast and crew in the feature. Although the film is about dementia, Friedland did not film the residents in the community's memory care wing, due to ethical considerations about their ability to give consent, so some roles (including the lead) were played by professional actors.

## Works

| Year | Title | Comments |
| 2024 | Familiar Touch | Feature |
| 2024 | Social Guidance | 4-channel video installation |
| 2022 | A Body | 2-channel video installation, collaboration with Eiko Otake |
| 2022 | Trust Exercises | Hybrid documentary/experimental short film |
| 2020 | Drills | Hybrid documentary/experimental short film |
| 2019 | Crowds | 3-channel video installation |
| 2017 | Home Exercises | Hybrid documentary/experimental short film |
| 2016 | Swimminghole | Music video |

## Awards

* 2024 Nominee Venice Horizons Award for Best Film (Familiar Touch)
* 2024 Winner Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Film (Familiar Touch)
* 2024 Winner Venice Horizons Award for Best Director (Familiar Touch)