Interview: Sarah Friedland – Familiar Touch (Work in Progress)

The folks at Music Box Films are releasing Sarah Friedland‘s award-winning Familiar Touch this Friday at the Film Forum in New York and then expand the following week. We had the chance to speak to the filmmaker while the film was still a work in progress at the 2023 American Film Festival in Wroclaw. With a a fascinating professional roadmap as a filmmaker, choreographer and teaching artist, Familiar Touch addresses cognitive decline related to dementia, but its not a film that is solely about subtraction as it sheds light on what might be gained and both usurps the coming-of-age film format and tackles conventions of ageism. This was produced by Alexandra Byer — Sollers Point (2017), Colewell (2019), Funny Face (2020) and Noah Pritzker’s Ex-Husbands and Matthew Thurm (2014’s H. and 2020’s Sylvie’s Love),

While the eco-system remains inherently delicate, the American micro indie film scene thrives, and IONCINEMA.com will highlight this vitality in our comprehensive interview series. We will trace the journey of films through in-depth conversations with the filmmakers and producers responsible for their creation, focusing on the eight projects chosen for the 2023 U.S. in Progress, a part of the American Film Fest in Wrocław. Throughout our year-plus coverage, we’ll delve into the evolution of these original works, from the post-production phase to picture lock and ultimately to their premieres at film festivals. Among the class of ’23 we find Tyler Taormina‘s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, Cutter Hodierne‘s Cold Wallet, Sarah Friedland‘s Familiar Touch, India Donaldson‘s Good One, Edson Jean‘s Know Me, Albert Birney‘s Obex, Morgan Krantz‘s The Water is Always Warm and Anu Valia‘s We Strangers.