Jeffrey Friedman (born in Los Angeles, calfornia on 24 August 1951) is an non-fiction filmmaker, director, producer, writer and editor. Fieldman has won an Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature for the film Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt.
In 1987, Friedman teamed up with filmmaker Rob Epstein to form Telling Pictures in San Francisco, California. Their first film together was Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, inspired by the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt on the Mall in Washington DC. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Common Threads tells the dramatic story of the first decade of AIDS in America through stories of five individuals featured in the Quilt. Friedman won his first Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Common Threads, whereas it was Epstein's second. The film also won the Peabody Award and an Emmy for Bobby McFerrin’s original all-vocal score.[1]
Their next film, The Celluloid Closet, based on the book by film historian Vito Russo, depicts a 100-year history of homosexual characters in Hollywood movies. Narrated by Lily Tomlin, The Celluloid Closet had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, was featured at the Toronto, New York, and Sundance Film Festivals (at which it won the Freedom of Expression Award from the jury), and numerous international festivals, including Berlin, Tokyo, and Sydney.[2]. In addition to winning the Peabody Award and Columbia DuPont Journalism Award, Friedman and Epstein won Emmys for directing.
In 2000, Friedman and Epstein directed and produced Paragraph 175, a film that explores a hidden chapter in history: the experiences of homosexuals during the Nazi regime in Europe. Narrated by Rupert Everett, and filmed in Germany, France and Spain, Paragraph 175 had its US premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2000, where it was awarded the documentary Grand Jury Prize for Directing, followed by a European premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February, where it won the FIPRESCI (International Film Critics Association Award).[3]
All films jointly with Rob Epstein: