Su Friedrich: TODAY
Posted by | Amy Beste | Posted on | September 7, 2023
Thursday, September 7, 8:30 p.m.
Su Friedrich, TODAY, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
“Challenges us to look at what’s right in front of us.” – Rhea Nayyar, Hyperallergic
For nearly a half-century, Su Friedrich has played a pivotal role in American queer cinema and autobiographical film with her rich and often unflinching explorations of family, kinship, and society. Join us for two screenings featuring three landmark films, including SINK OR SWIM (1990), RULES OF THE ROAD (1993) (both screening on Thursday, September 7, 6:00 p.m.), and TODAY (2022).
Friedrich’s latest feature, TODAY, is a luminous personal essay on beauty, love, and loss. Endeavoring to live by and also question the maxim to “live in the moment,” Friedrich turns her camera to the world immediately in front of her: a neighborhood barbeque, a bucolic vacation, the brilliance of flowers—both natural and artificial—and the consecutive losses of loved ones. Hoping to ground herself in the everyday, the filmmaker finds herself increasingly contemplative, as memories and devastating experiences make claim to her limited time.
2022, USA, 57 minutes
In English, Format: Digital
About the artist
Su Friedrich has produced 23 films and videos since 1978. She is the recipient of many awards, including fellowships from the Rockefeller and Guggenheim foundations, a Herb Alpert Award, as well as numerous grants from the Jerome Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and Independent Television Service. Her work is widely screened in the United States, Canada, and Europe and has been the subject of retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Rotterdam International Film Festival; the London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival; the Stadtkino,Vienna; The Cinematheque, Vancouver; the National Film Theater, London; the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema; the New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival; the first Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival; the Cork International Film Festival; the Wellington Film Festival; the Bios art center, Athens; and the Anthology Film Archives, New York. Friedrich taught film and video production at Princeton University from 1998–2023.
Related Event
SINK OR SWIM and RULES OF THE ROAD (both screening on Thursday, September 7, 6:00 p.m.)
Accessibility
CATE events are presented with real-time captions (CART). Hearing loops, wheelchair accessibility, and companion seating are also available at the Gene Siskel Film Center. For other accessibility requests, please visit saic.edu/access or write cate@saic.edu.
About
Conversations at the Edge is a weekly series of screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists.
CATE is organized by SAIC's Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center and SAIC's Video Data Bank.
Programs take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State / Chicago, IL / 312.846.2600), unless otherwise noted.
