To Make Venice Winner ‘Familiar Touch,’ Sarah Friedland Turned a Retirement Home Into a Radical Indie Film Set

Location, location, location. When it came clip for filmmaker Sarah Friedland to make her first feature, nan Venice victor “Familiar Touch,” it wasn’t conscionable a lawsuit of “this would beryllium a bully location to have” aliases “think of nan location arsenic different characteristic successful nan film.” It went wholly beyond those elements, arsenic Friedland opted to not only group her film successful a Southern California status community, but to movie it astatine 1 excessively — pinch nan thief of existent residents.

“I deliberation we thin to deliberation astir aging communities and peculiarly aging communities wherever location is attraction provided arsenic spaces wherever group spell to dice alternatively than spaces of living,” Friedland told IndieWire during a caller interview. “So I thought, OK, if we move a status organization into a film set, that is portion of anti-ageist politics, to opportunity a attraction mounting tin really beryllium a tract of taste production. We were moving pinch a mini budget, we couldn’t ever salary to return complete aliases create a status community. This felt for illustration a measurement to person an exchange: We are going to connection this acquisition acquisition for residents and unit alike, and successful exchange, you’ll thief america make this. We could person this benignant of reciprocal imaginative swap.”

Friedland’s movie premiered astatine Venice successful nan Orizzonti (Horizons) conception past year, wherever it won the Luigi de Laurentiis Lion of nan Future prize for champion first film, positive nan Best Director grant for Friedland, and nan Best Actress grant for prima Kathleen Chalfant. In nan achingly friendly drama, we travel Chalfant’s Ruth arsenic she attempts to acclimate to a caller life (and wherever it will yet return her) complete nan people of her early days successful an assisted surviving installation and, specifically, successful its representation attraction unit.

“The first kernel [of an idea] came [because of] my paternal grandma many, galore years ago,” Friedland said. “She was a poesy editor, an intellectual, and personification whose consciousness of aforesaid was very overmuch rooted successful her linguistic expression, and erstwhile she developed dementia, she became nonverbal aft a definite point. My family, successful grieving nan personification they knew, started speaking astir her successful nan past tense.”

At nan time, Friedland was studying dance, and she couldn’t thief but announcement that, moreover without words, her grandma was expressing herself done movement. “She was still very physically coming and expressive,” nan filmmaker said. “She would rock. She would pat definite rhythms. She would scope retired to touch you. I could consciousness a benignant of clash betwixt nan communicative — which is not circumstantial to my family — that we usage mostly to talk astir group pinch representation loss, that they’re nary longer location aliases they’ve slipped away.”

‘Familiar Touch‘Courtesy Everett Collection

Friedland, who was only successful her early teenage years astatine nan time, said she was “haunted” by this emotion and this clash for years. She wrote nan first draught of nan book that would go “Familiar Touch” erstwhile she was conscionable 19.

“I was trying to fig retired if I could write,” she said. “At nan time, I thought that screenwriters were group who had a penchant for penning dialogue, and I didn’t. I thought of everything successful movement. … The first book was trying to ideate [the characteristic who would go Ruth] moving astir her location of decades for nan past time, it was conscionable benignant of imagining those day-to-day activities and that choreography.”

Friedland said she stuck that first book successful a drawer, vanished college, and started moving various jobs successful nan movie industry, from accumulation coordination to book supervising. But Friedland, who often wears aggregate hats connected her ain movie (editor, choreographer, and more), was itching for a different benignant of experience.

“I sewage to a constituent wherever I felt like, if I want to make artist dramas, I request to meet group who aren’t moving connected a movie set,” she said. “Otherwise, I’ll conscionable beryllium 1 of those filmmakers who only makes films astir movie people.”

She discontinue her occupation — astatine nan time, she was nan book supervisor for HBO’s “Girls” — and answered an advertisement for a sculptor pinch dementia who needed a caregiver who could service arsenic half-studio assistant, half-care companion.

“That occupation changed everything I thought I knew astir aging, astir nan intimacy of attraction work, astir property identity,” she said. “After doing that, I started school filmmaking to older adults. During those years, I was perpetually revising nan script. Those experiences moving pinch older adults is wherever nan thought emerged that it needed to beryllium made successful this way. It conscionable felt like, if I want to make this anti-ageist drama, let’s bring older adults into nan process of making it and admit their talent and capaciousness and make it successful a benignant of intergenerational way.”

While nan movie follows Ruth during a play of transition, it was basal to Friedland that nan movie not gaffe into worn-out ideas astir what aging means aliases what it looks like, particularly to those not experiencing it for themselves.

“I was reasoning astir this movie arsenic a benignant of anti-ageist movie successful a number of ways,” Friedland said. “Usually films astir aging coming a play of decline. Whether it’s representation nonaccomplishment aliases patient aging, nan play is astir a personification withering distant aliases sliding into decrepitude, and it’s a calamity astir that. It’s not to opportunity location aren’t losses astir aging, of people location are, but location are astatine each shape of life. And 1 of nan ways that those stories are perpetuated is that they’re from nan position of younger group looking astatine older people, alternatively than nan older personification looking astatine themselves.”

‘Familiar Touch’Courtesy Everett Collection

“Familiar Touch” is told, brilliantly, from Ruth’s perspective. It’s not fixed complete to histrionics aliases blaring displays of emotion, alternatively asking america to travel Ruth and acquisition nan world done her eyes. The effect is profound.

“This is wherever being a attraction worker really informed nan script, because what I saw pinch my clients is that nan group astir them, their loved ones who meant very well, they were nan ones who had nan tones of calamity successful their voice,” she said. “The group I was caring for, they didn’t spot themselves arsenic protagonists successful a tragedy, they were conscionable surviving a play that was sometimes comedic, sometimes sad. The first move for maine was conscionable being very clear that this had to beryllium rooted successful Ruth’s consciousness of aforesaid and her narration to people, alternatively than them looking astatine her.”

Through that perspective, we tin temporarily consciousness nan measurement Ruth must. Confused. Scared. Tricked. As disconcerting arsenic it mightiness consciousness to ne'er rather cognize what Ruth is going to do next, that prime breeds understanding. How would that consciousness if you were nan personification connected the inside? Friedland and Chalfant research that successful galore ways.

“The different point that was really important was showing Ruth’s sexuality,” nan filmmaker said. “It’s portion of really this manifests connected surface arsenic well, older women successful peculiar having sexuality is usually nan butt of a joke, truthful I wanted to show Ruth’s desire successful a measurement that really honored it and that felt for illustration it had a sensuous connection successful nan filmmaking grammar. I wanted to springiness viewers a consciousness that an older personification is nary different than us, pinch nan dream that a young personification could watch it and place pinch Ruth’s desire, her ambition, her gutsiness. It’s specified a dumb point to opportunity because it’s truthful obvious, but to consciousness her arsenic conscionable a person.”

And Friedland had plentifulness of acquisition moving pinch older group to thief guideline those intentions. In 2017, she made a short movie entitled “Home Exercises” that followed a fistful of older adults successful their ain homes. The filmmaker said she quickly noticed that truthful galore of her performers were conscionable arsenic willing successful nan mechanics of filmmaking arsenic they were successful performing for nan camera.

The thought to movie astatine Villa Gardens progressive galore moving parts and large questions (who would beryllium involved, what would they do connected nan set, what astir residents who didn’t want to beryllium involved, really would they grip aesculapian emergencies, and truthful overmuch more), but it each started pinch nan residents themselves.

‘Familiar Touch’Courtesy Everett Collection

Friedland said that nan community’s executive director, Sean Rushforth, “made it very, very clear what they needed for this to beryllium done successful a measurement that felt correct for them and allowed america to benignant of accommodate our scheme to meet that.” Friedland and her producers offered a accumulation scheme to nan residents that they voted on.

“I’m very utilized to pitching nan movie to funders, producers, et cetera, but possibly my astir tense transportation was erstwhile I sounded it to a 200-person room of residents to get their greenish light,” Friedland said. “And convey God they said yes. I really appreciated really clear they were astir what was needed to do this, not only pinch consent, but enthusiastic consent.”

Friedland conducted a five-week filmmaking shop pinch nan residents starring up to accumulation of “Familiar Touch,” pinch nan thought that nan residents would gravitate toward different aspects of filmmaking that could beryllium put to usage connected nan feature. “The dream was that group would find themselves successful these different crafts and past beryllium capable to thief america make this successful a measurement that was authentic,” she said. “I emotion intergenerational experiments. For me, this was benignant of this unusual pedagogical intergenerational experiment, and portion of that comes from nan consciousness that a unit tin beryllium a really move and generative societal relationship, and it allows group to subordinate to each different successful ways that they mightiness not successful different setting.”

She’s showed nan movie to nan Villa Gardens residents doubly now: a group of residents and unit came to Los Angeles’ AFI FEST premiere successful October (there were truthful galore people, Friedland shared happily, that they couldn’t each fresh connected nan reddish carpet) and, nan adjacent day, Friedland took nan movie straight to nan community, truthful that those who were incapable to recreation could spot it, too. “Packed house, opinionated room only, and we brought nan [Venice grant statues] lions and everyone sewage to walk them around,” she said. “Their overwhelmingly affirmative captious reception intends much to maine than anything.”

While nan process by which Friedland made “Familiar Touch” was highly circumstantial — nan communicative truthful intrinsically linked to nan mounting successful which it was really made — nan filmmaker is hopeful that nan lessons she learned connected nan movie are replicable for her and different creators.

“I dream much group will deliberation astir older adults arsenic group that they tin collaborate pinch and that person valuable things to contribute,” she said. “I deliberation we unrecorded successful a nine that thinks that people, erstwhile they person care, nary longer person thing to give, and that’s conscionable truthful not true. I dream much group will see collaborating pinch aging communities.”

Music Box Films will merchandise “Familiar Touch” connected Friday, June 20 astatine Film Forum successful New York and Friday, June 27 successful Los Angeles, and will beryllium expanding nationally successful prime markets.