In 2024, Sarah Friedland was honoured with the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Award for her screenplay for the film ›Familiar Touch‹, which is also her feature film debut as a director. The International Jury was deeply touched by Friedland's screenplay, ‘...whose quality in its transition from text to film lies in its ability to transport us into an inner world. A film whose authorship and text go beyond the script pages, choreographing the characters‘ minds, bodies, gestures and silences to write a story that activates the audience's imagination and allows them to participate in the narrative,’ the jury's statement reads.
Familiar Touch
ausgezeichnet mit dem Rainer Werner Fassbinder Award 2024
Familiar Touch
Sensitive, touching, and brimming with gentle humor: a woman struggles with dementia and her transition to assisted living.
At times, 80-year-old Ruth still feels as young and exuberant as a teenager, ready for love. She already finds it difficult to accept that she can no longer manage her everyday life on her own. It’s even harder for her to acknowledge the cognitive decline she is suffering because of dementia. She rejects the roles ascribed to her, whether it’s that of mother, patient, or old lady. Conflicts with the nursing staff at her new residential home are inevitable. As are identity crises: who am I? And who am I still?
Director Sarah Friedland began writing ›Familiar Touch‹ shortly after the death of her grandmother, who had dementia. With a lot of humor, but without shying away from uncomfortable truths, she succeeds in creating a coming-of-age drama about old age that is moving and continually surprising.
Director: Sarah Friedland
Country: USA
2024 | 90 min. | English
Subtitles: German
Cast_ Kathleen Chalfant, Carolyn Michelle, Andy McQueen, H. Jon Benjamin Screenplay_ Sarah Friedland Camera_ Gabe C. Elder Producer_ Alexandra Byer , Matthew Thurm, Sarah Friedland Rights_ Memento