SONYA FRIEDMAN
Selected film/video credits
Read more ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUBTITLES by Sonya Friedman
GRACE – Producer/director – 51 minutes – 2010
A documentary about Grace Paley, the noted American short-story writer, poet, educator, political activist.
Grace reminisces about her work, life, family, and her early literary and political influences. We see Grace at home, in interviews, and at her fabled readings.
Grace’s close friends and colleagues – Jean Valentine, Poet Laureate of New York;
Vera Williams, author, illustrator, and others – remember Grace as a “writer of genius,”
and “a combative pacifist and cooperative anarchist!”
The Masters of Disaster - Writer/director/producer. 26-minute documentary about a group of youngsters from the black ghetto of Indianapolis who unexpectedly win the National Chess Championship.
Academy Award Nomination; Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival: Cine Golden Eagle Award; NAACP Image Award; Best Film, American Library Association.
“This half-hour documentary, written and directed by Sonya Friedman, warms the heart without melting the brain. To borrow from the team song, “The word is out all over the street, The Masters of Disaster can’t be beat.” New York Times
Memoirs of Uliana Rooney- 60 minutes – Video producer/director; writer of book and libretto. Music by Vivian Fine. A humorous chamber opera about an imaginary woman composer who lives through great social changes in the U.S.
Performed in Richmond, Va., Bryant Park, NYC, Annenberg Center, Philadelphia.
“…jaunty and affecting.” Opera News
The Age of the Medici – Dialogue writer of three feature-length historical dramas by Roberto Rossellini. Theatrical distribution.
The Bronze Zoo – 16 minutes. Writer/director/editor. An introduction to sculpture;
follows a bronze sculpture from its conception in the artist’s mind to its completion.
Regular screenings by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
Best Film, American Library Association; Francis Scott Key Award, Baltimore Film Festival.
“Fascinating…a unique contribution to contemporary art museums, children’s programs and public library
collections.” Booklist
Documentary! – 2 hours. Co-producer/writer/director with Herman J. Engel.
Music by Elizabeth Swados. A history of the documentary film.
“An astonishing documentary…will endure for some decades as the definitive non-fiction film on the subject.” Film News
The Great Cover Up -12 minutes . Writer/director/editor. A light-hearted history of clothing as an expression of our sexuality, politics, and social and professional roles.
CINE Golden Eagle; Best Film, American Library Association
Islam: The Prophet and the People – 34 minutes – Writer/editor. Co-producer with RAI, Italian TV.
Blue Ribbon, American Film Fest; Golden “A” Award, Foreign Language Film festival: Cine Golden Eagle.
Note: One of Sonya Friedman’s specialties as a film writer has been subtitles: she has worked with De Sica, Fellini, Rossellini, Cluzot, Godard and many other directors.
In recent years, she has been the originator and principal writer of subtitles for opera telecasts, and of “supertitles” for live opera productions.
Sonya Friedman © 2010
Four Corners
Productions
38 West 10 Street
New York, NY 10011
friedman4c@verizon.net
Buy the documentary "GRACE" directly from the filmmakers.
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