Jeffrey Friedman

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Jeffrey Friedman (2015)

Jeffrey Friedman (born August 24, 1951 in Los Angeles ) is an American documentary filmmaker , film producer , screenwriter and film editor . A long-term collaboration connects him with Rob Epstein . Both have repeatedly addressed LGBT issues in their documentaries and feature films .

biography

Jeffrey Friedman began his career as a child actor on New York off-Broadway stages. In the early 1970s he switched to film and became an assistant editor for William Friedkin's horror film The Exorcist (1973), Martin Scorsese's boxer film Wie ein Wilder Stier (1980) and the Walt Disney film adaptation When the Wolves Howl (1983). He later began working as a freelance editor for US television. In the mid-1980s, Friedman made the acquaintance of Rob Epstein , who was working on the production of his later Oscar- winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (1985). After another collaboration for a television series, Friedman and Epstein decided to found a joint film production company, Telling Pictures , which in 1987 moved into the premises of a former Catholic girls' school in San Francisco .

With Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt followed in 1989, the first joint directorial work. The documentary film about the genesis of the AIDS project NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt , for which both were able to win the actor Dustin Hoffman as narrator, won an Oscar in 1990. In Germany, Common Threads was screened in the Panorama series as part of the Berlin International Film Festival . The film, praised for its emotional biographies, won the Interfilm Prize there.

In May 1991, the two homosexual filmmakers set off from San Francisco by car for 18 days to the south and southeast of the United States, resulting in the documentary Where Are We? Our Trip Through America (1993) was written. They visited Louisiana , Mississippi, and North Carolina , among others . On their way they interviewed numerous compatriots about their hopes, dreams and fears, including an AIDS patient in Louisiana and homosexual soldiers who had returned from the Gulf War . The San Francisco Chronicle praised Friedman and Epstein as good interviewers, who obtained some remarkable material from a minimum of questions. Where are we? act as a sociological document, as "evidence of the confusion and concern in America" .

Friedman and Epstein became known to a worldwide audience through their next documentary, The Celluloid Closet (1995). It was a film adaptation of the book of the same name by Vito Russo , in which the roles of LGBT characters in Hollywood cinemas are examined. Both of them won prominent directors, writers, producers and actors such as Lily Tomlin , Tom Hanks , Shirley MacLaine , Whoopi Goldberg , Tony Curtis , Gore Vidal and Armistead Maupin for the project . They commented on film clips in front of the camera and reported on their own experiences. Friedman and Epstein dealt with Marlene Dietrich's androgynous provocation in Morocco , sissy roles, the emergence of the Hays Code , outsiders at risk of suicide, the first homosexual screen heroes and depictions of homosexual sex. The fact-rich film history of homosexuality, which, according to daily newspaper a clear spotlight on the morals of the accused US post-war society, brought Friedman and Epstein, among others, the Teddy Award at the Berlinale, the Independent Spirit Award and the Truer Than Fiction Award at the Sundance Film Festival a .

After a documentary about extreme athletes ( Xtreme: Sports to Die For , 1996), Friedman and Epstein succeeded in building on the previous success with Paragraph 175 (2000). In cooperation with the Berlin historian Klaus Müller, the two filmmakers established contact with five men and one woman who suffered from the tightening of Section 175 by the Nazis from 1935 or were imprisoned in concentration camps. From the off , Friedman and Epstein let the actor Rupert Everett explain the historical context, while the statements of the contemporary witnesses were combined with historical film and photo material. Die Welt praised the two filmmakers for doing without staging and dramatic music, while the taz pointed to many strong moments, but also to the attempts of the two directors to keep their distance from the explosive topic. Paragraph 175 brought Friedman and Epstein several international film and festival prizes , including a second Teddy Award and the FIPRESCI Prize of the Berlinale 2000 . At the Sundance Film Festival, both were awarded directors' awards.

In 2002, both contributed to the award-winning episode film Underground Zero about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the short film Isaiah's Rap , in which her nephew Isaiah Gage intones a rap that was inspired by the tragedy. In 2006 Friedman and Epstein dedicated their Gold Rush to the historical phenomenon of the California gold rush , which was broadcast as a one-hour documentary as part of the Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America series on the History Channel .

In 2010, the two filmmakers took on each other in their first feature film Howl - Das Geheul , the eponymous poem by the American writer Allen Ginsberg (played by James Franco ), which is considered an important work of the Beat Generation . The drama, which takes place in three different locations, was invited to compete at the 60th Berlin Film Festival in 2010 . In the same year Friedman and Epstein plan to film the biography of the American porn actress Linda Lovelace (1949-2002).

Jeffrey Friedman lives in San Francisco. In addition to his work as a director and screenwriter, he also worked with Epstein as a producer of Robert Cary's feature film Save Me (2007) and the documentary Sex in '69: The Sexual Revolution in America (2009).

Filmography (selection)

Documentaries

Feature films and television series

  • 2002: Crime & Punishment (TV series)
  • 2002: Underground Zero (Episode: Isaiah's Rap )
  • 2010: * 2010: Howl - The Howl (Howl)
  • 2013: Lovelace

Awards

Emmy

  • 1996: nominated in the categories Outstanding Individual Achievement (Informational Programming) and Outstanding Informational Special for The Celluloid Closet

Further

Berlin International Film Festival

  • 1990: Interfilm Prize for Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
  • 1996: Teddy Award for The Celluloid Closet
  • 2000: FIPRESCI Prize and Teddy Award for Paragraph 175

Festival Internazionale di Cinema Gaylesbico e Queer Culture di Milano

  • 2000: Best Documentary for Paragraph 175

Glitter award

  • 2002: Best Documentary for Paragraph 175

Independent Spirit Awards

  • 1997: Truer Than Fiction Award for The Celluloid Closet
  • 2001: nominated in the category Best Documentary for Paragraph 175

International Documentary Association

  • 2000: Nominated in the category of best feature-length documentary for paragraph 175

LA Outfest

  • 2000: Outfest Achievement Award

Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

  • 2000: Jury Prize for Section 175

San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

  • 2000: Audience Award for Paragraph 175

Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

  • 2000: Award for Excellence for Paragraph 175

Sundance Film Festival

  • 1992: nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Where Are We? Our Trip Through America
  • 1996: Freedom of Expression Award and nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for The Celluloid Closet
  • 2000: Best director and nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Paragraph 175
  • 2010: nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Howl

Web links

Commons : Jeffrey Friedman  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. O'Connor, John J .: AIDS Quilt and the Stories Behind Its Symbols . In: The New York Times , October 24, 1989, p. 26
  2. ↑ cf. Holden, Stephen: An Informal Tour of the Country . In: The New York Times, Jul 30, 1993, p. 14
  3. ↑ cf. Kahle, Philip: Trapped in the dream factory . In: the daily newspaper, March 15, 1996, p. 18
  4. ↑ cf. Guthmann, Edward: Festival Finds a Charmer . In: The San Francisco, April 30, 1992, p. E1
  5. ↑ cf. Marquardt, Volker: Gay Smugglers . In: the daily newspaper, June 15, 1996, p. 41
  6. ↑ cf. Kellerhoff, Sven Felix : "Paragraph 175": The forgotten victims of National Socialism . In: Die Welt, February 7, 2002, edition 32/2002, p. 29
  7. ↑ cf. Nord, Christian: Testimony and Shame . In: the daily newspaper, November 15, 2001, p. 27
personal data
SURNAME Friedman, Jeffrey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Friedman, Jeff
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American documentary filmmaker and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles