Slideshow
FAMILIAR TOUCH
Opens Friday, June 20
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY SARAH FRIEDLAND
STARRING KATHLEEN CHALFANT
WINNER!
Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Film
Horizons Awards for Best Director & Actress
Venice Film Festival 2024
Ruth (acclaimed stage actress Kathleen Chalfant) is an elegant, meticulous woman in her 80s. Her home in southern California is sunny and well-appointed, with greenery and tasteful mementos from a life filled with family, adventures, and pleasures. Ruth is going on a journey: Her body is moving to full-time memory care facility; her mind and spirit into the unknown. In her debut feature, filmmaker Sarah Friedland invites the viewer into this journey gently, allowing us to experience both the disorienting shadows and bright micro-moments along with Ruth, as she loses pieces of her past self, while still living — engaging with the present-time flesh and blood, and kindness, of her caregivers.
Presented with support from The Endowed Fund for Emerging Filmmakers
2024 90 MIN. USA MUSIC BOX FILMS
Reviews
“The delicacy of what [Chalfant] does in this role is astounding.”
– Alison Willmore, New York Magazine
“WONDROUS. [An] exquisite drama. Explores the human mind in all its frailness and glory.”
– Ela Bittencourt, Sight and Sound