Sarah Ema Friedland received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and the International School of Film and Television in Cuba and her M.F.A. from the Integrated Media Art Program at Hunter College. Her documentary films and installations are concerned with personal stories that reveal larger histories and intricacies about place and society.
Friedland’s works with collaborator Esy Casey have screened widely in the U.S. and abroad and have been supported by grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Paul Newman Foundation, the William H. Prusoff Foundation, The Princess Grace Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Center for Asian American Media.
In 2009, after the debut of her feature documentary Thing With No Name, she was named one of the “Top 10 Independent Filmmakers to Watch” by The Independent magazine. She is a recipient of the 2014 Paul Robeson award from the Newark Museum for her feature documentary The Rink. Her recent documentary Jeepney (directed by Esy Casey, produced by Esy Casey and Sarah Friedland) will be broadcast on PBS in 2015. She is a 2014 LABA House of Study fellow. Friedland is currently a professor at Wagner College and the director of their Film and Media Studies Major.
At MacDowell with collaborator Esy Casey, Friedland completed a rough cut of Here After, which focuses on the ways Americans memorialize their loved ones.
