Familiar Touch film made in collaboration with the residents and staff of Villa Gardens PASADENA, Calif. , Sept. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Familiar Touch , a "coming of (old) age" film that won the Luigi de Laurentiis Lion of the Future prize for best first film at the 81 st Venice International Film Festival Orizzonti Competition , was filmed at Villa Gardens, a Front Porch Retirement Community located in Pasadena , and included residents and staff among its cast and crew.
Written and directed by Sarah Friedland, who won for best director and starring Kathleen Chalfant , who received the award for best actress, Familiar Touch follows an octogenarian woman's transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting relationship to herself and her caregivers amidst her shifting memory, age identity, and desires. In her acceptance speech , Friedland said, "None of this exists without the residents and staff of Villa Gardens Continuing Care Retirement Community who invited us into their stories, home and workplace." In the five weeks leading up to principle photography, Friedland and members of her film crew and cast led workshops on different aspects of filmmaking for Villa Gardens residents, such as scriptwriting, cinematography, acting, editing and art direction.
"Each week we would shoot a very short film, and the residents who participated in the workshop would rotate roles, so if you were directing one week you were acting or designing the next. By the end .