Su Friedrich has become one of America’s most celebrated and groundbreaking independent filmmakers over the last fifteen years. Moving between intimately personal and politically charged subject matter, Su’s films are formally daring yet reach out to many audiences. As a longtime lesbian activist, her work champions both social and aesthetic personal freedom. The Cinematheque will mark the San Francisco premiere of her newest film, Hide and Seek on April 6th, with an additional evening of Su’s earlier work. Tonight’s screening includes two major autobiographical films which poetically explore memories of complex relationships with her mother and father. Each creates a distinctive portrait which is specific to her history yet fraught with universal meaning. The Ties That Bind (1984, 55 min.) investigates the childhood of Friedrich’s mother in Nazi Germany against the backdrop of her (then) current life in America; in Sink Or Swim (1990, 48 min.) a young girl uses a series of twenty-six stories to recount the events that formed her perceptions of fatherhood, family, work and play.