Familiar Touch

Q&A with Sarah Friedland and Kathleen Chalfant on April 2 at 6:00pm (joined by Carolyn Michelle and H. Jon Benjamin) and 8:30pm (FLC) and April 4 at 6:00pm (MoMA)

Octogenarian Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant) has been living independently, but cracks have started to emerge: toast is placed to dry in the dish rack, confusion rests on her face, the dead are spoken of in present tense while the living (such as a son right before her) go entirely unrecognized. Her entrance into an assisted-living facility begins the strange, transcendent journey that is Familiar Touch, Sarah Friedland’s feature debut, which earned three awards in the 2024 Venice Film Festival Orizzonti Competition, including the Lion of the Future, Best Director, and Best Actress for Chalfant’s astonishing turn. Friedland builds her drama through sharp honesty, and tough as its material may be, few films are so tonally flexible, so able to turn on a dime: stray moments of tenderness, humility, even absurdity poke through, with a love and care for Ruth shown by characters and creators alike. Familiar Touch portends the arrival of major directorial talent. A Music Box Films release.