Peter Friedman
Peter Friedman's documentaries were about diverse subjects including: portraits of extraordinary people, LGBTQ and AIDS related issues, contemporary biology, and subjective essays on matters such as humanity's relationship to nature, mortality, and existential questions.
Friedman's films were distributed and exhibited in more than 50 countries. His 80+ awards included an Oscar nomination, an Emmy nomination, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, a Peabody, The Los Angeles Film Critics Award, the Prix Europa in Berlin for “Best European Documentary of the Year”, and the Prix Italia for “Best Documentary Worldwide”. He passed away in 2025.
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Death by Design: Where Parallel Worlds Meet
Directed by Peter Friedman, JF Brunet • Documentary • With Martin Raff, Rita Levi-Montalcini, Robert Horvitz, Pierre Golstein, Polly Matzinger, Klaus-Michael Debatin • 1995 • 70 minutes
There exists a world where death creates life, where suicides without sadness occur billions of times an hour,...
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The Devil is in the Detail
Directed by Peter Friedman • Documentary • With Robert Carsen, Lambert Wilson, Anna Christy • 2021 • 114 minutes
A feature-length cinema vérité portrait of one of the world's greatest stage directors at work, filmed over the course of a year. From his first sketches in pencil until opening night...
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Fighting in Southwest Louisiana
Directed by Peter Friedma, JF Brunet • Documentary • With Danny Cooper, Ben Royal • 1992 • 27 minutes
A portrait of Danny Cooper, a mailman in the rural American South who has been openly gay since high school in the middle of “redneck” country. Modest and self-effacing, when asked how he finds ...
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I Talk to Animals
Directed by Peter Friedman • Documentary • With Samantha Khury • 1990 • 54 minutes
Samantha is an "animal therapist and psychic" who has convinced skeptical pet owners, zoo keepers, and race horse trainers that she really can "talk" to their animals. Here we see her at work counselling race hors...
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The Life and Times of Life and Times
Directed by Peter Friedman, JF Brunet • Documentary • With Elizabeth Blackburn, Leonard Hayflick, Michael Rose, Cynthia Kenyon, Francois Schachter, Alain Prochiantz • 1998 • 59 minutes
Why do we age? Do we wear out piece by piece like an old car? Or do our genes determine our lifespan? Scientis...
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MANA - Beyond Belief
Directed by Peter Friedman, Roger Manley • Documentary • 2005 • 92 minutes
MANA - Beyond Belief is a journey from a Navajo medicine man’s mud-covered hogan to the eternity of outer space, from the most ancient of technologies to the most complex, from the concrete world of objects to the abstrac...
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Silverlake Life
Directed by Tom Joslin, Peter Friedman • Documentary • With Tom Joslin, Mark Massi • 1993 • 99 minutes
Independent Filmmaker Tom Joslin and his longtime lover Mark Massi battle AIDS in the days before effective medication existed. Silverlake Life debuted in 1993 — a time when demonizing queerne...
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Roy Smeck: Wizard of the Strings
Directed by Peter Friedman • Documentary • With Roy Smeck, Gene Autry, Arthur Tracy, Mel Bay • 1984 • 27 minutes
In 1926, Warner Brothers premiered the first sync-sound film ever made. It featured a largely unknown vaudeville performer named Roy Smeck. The film showcased Roy’s virtuosity on the ...
