Sarah Friedland's documentary films and installations are concerned with personal stories that reveal larger histories and intricacies about place and society. Friedland’s works with Esy Casey have screened widely in the US and abroad and have been supported by grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Paul Newman Foundation, the William H. Prusoff Foundation, The Princess Grace Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Center for Asian American Media. In 2009, after the debut of her feature documentary Thing With No Name, she was named one of the “Top 10 Independent Filmmakers to Watch” by the Independent Magazine. She is a recipient of the 2014 Paul Robeson award from the Newark Museum for her feature documentary The Rink. Her recent documentary Jeepney (directed by Esy Casey produced by Esy Casey and Sarah Friedland) will be broadcast on PBS in 2015. She is a 2014 LABA House of Study fellow and is currently working on two projects: Memorials (with Esy Casey), a feature documentary about the way America memorializes its dead; and 5 x Lydda, a documentary video installation. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Film and Film Studies at Wagner College.
Ryan Joseph was born in Trinidad, West Indies and now resides in Jersey City, NJ. He is a freelance documentary filmmaker and photographer. He co-produced and co-wrote The Rink, a feature length documentary about a local roller skating rink in Newark, New Jersey. Ryan also co-produced, co-wrote, and co-directed It took 50 Years: Frances Goldin and the Struggle for Cooper Square, a documentary about a legendary housing activist who, alongside her community, fought Robert Moses and the City of New York for affordable housing in the Lower East Side. Ryan is an Adjunct Lecturer at Lehman College, and La Guardia Community College. He was also a staff member and instructor at The Center for Digital Filmmaking, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Ryan has taught filmmaking, photography, and mass media at several academic institutions. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, and his work has been shown in various venues, including Aljira, Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, New Jersey, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland, and Art for Change in New York City. Ryan has been published in The New York Times and Jet Magazine. He earned an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College in New York City.
(Photo Amanda Brown/For The Star-Ledger)
