Emerson VMA

CINEMA EMERSON PRESENTS
an Emerson community only screening

Sarah Friedland’s acclaimed 2024 debut feature film FAMILIAR TOUCH

Best Debut Film, Best Director, Best Actress ~ Venice Horizons Award, 2024 Venice Film Festival
Somone to Watch Award ~ 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards
Winner, New Directions Competition ~ 2024 São Paulo International Film Festival
John Schlesinger Award, Best Director of a Narrative Film ~ 2025 Provincetown International Film Festival
Bronze Horse, Best Film ~ 2024 Stockholm Film Festival

A sensitive coming-of-old-age film that follows an older woman’s transition into assisted living as she navigates her relationship with herself, her caregivers, and her family amidst her shifting memories and desires.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/NY7qpocVWZE?si=XI29q45i3pQo0ZtJ

Writer-Director Sarah Friedland in attendance for a post-screening discussion moderated by Emerson Associate Professor Mike Ryan

Bright Family Screening Room (Paramount Theater, 559 Washington St)
7pm, doors open at 6:30pm
Free and first come, first served

Alumni Spotlight: Alexander Freeman ’14 confronts the barriers people with disabilities Face in his new documentary, True Value.

Narrated by Academy Award–winner Chris Cooper, the film follows Freeman and others as they search for meaningful work, asking a larger question: who decides a person’s worth?

Now streaming on YouTube.

Associate Professor to SOF, Ougie Pak has built a body of work defined by raw storytelling. Each film, crafted on a microbudget, pulses with emotional depth, fearless creativity, and lived experience.

Now, Pak’s films stream on the Criterion Channel, a dream come true for the director who started out sneaking shots in New York City parks. Be sure to stream his films and read more about microbudgeting films at the link in bio.

Cinema Emerson presents: Sundance award-winning FAREWELL AMOR (2020) preceded by short film FAREWELL MEU AMOR (2016). Featuring a post-screening Q&A with Writer-Director and Emerson College Assistant Professor Ekwa Msangi, moderated by Assistant Professor Thato R. Mwosa. Free and open to the public, first come, first serve basis, doors open at 6:30pm. Screening is in the Bright Family Screening Room, Paramount Theater, 559 Washington St, Boston 02111. Sponsored by Emerson’s School of Film, Television, & Media Arts.