Peter Friedman

Death by Design: Where Parallel Worlds Meet

Peter Friedman, Jean-François Brunet

Klaus-Michael Debatin, Pierre Golstein

A guided tour into the invisible world of cells, told through a collage of metaphors. Discusses and portrays the invisible world of cells, how they communicate with each other, work together, reproduce, and die, all to benefit the larger organism of which they are a part. State-of-the-art micro-cinematography is playfully intercut with parallel images from life at the human scale: a hundred lighted violins, imploding skyscrapers, pieces of film on the cutting room floor.

Silverlake Life: The View from Here

Tom Joslin, Peter Friedman

Tom Joslin, Mark Massi

An extraordinary video diary about living with AIDS documenting, with guts and humor, the love and dedication of longtime companions Tom Joslin and Mark Massi, from the emotional challenge of living with a fatal illness to the frustration of maintaining daily routines,.

Mana: Beyond Belief

Roger Manley, Peter Friedman

All over the world, in every society, there are objects that have special power over people. People climb mountains or make pilgrimages just to see or touch them. They prostrate themselves or engage in rituals in their presence, caress them in the hopes of absorbing some of their magic, they enshrine them in temples or pass them on to descendants; wear them or store them in treasure houses or sometimes burn them. An individual object might hold power over only one group or even just one person, but the phenomenon of "power objects" is universal.

The Wizard of the Strings

Peter Friedman

Profiles Roy Smeck, a former vaudeville star known as "The Wizard of the Strings" because of his virtuoso talents on the guitar, banjo, ukelele and Hawaiian guitar, and who is shown to be still active, in his mid-80s, teaching students and giving occasional public performances.

Silverlake Life: Epilogue

Elaine Mayes, Peter Friedman

Mark Massi, Elaine Mayes

The continuing political significance of Silverlake Life is brought into clearer focus. Another friend of Tom Joslin and Mark Massi, Elaine Mayes recorded footage of Mark’s decline after Tom’s death, which is where the original version ends. It’s fitting that Mark’s own life, death, and the loss of his lover are here given the sort of attention afforded Tom’s experiences. It reminds us that AIDS is far from over.