Peter Friedman studied film at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, where he was a student and protégé of Tom Joslin. He is the founder of Strange Attractions, Inc., an independent film production company based in New York and Paris. Since 1984 he has directed and produced films which have received numerous awards, including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, the LA Film Critics Award for Best Independent Film, a Peabody Award, the Prix Italia in Rome for Best Public Television Documentary Worldwide and the Prix Europa in Berlin for Best Documentary Broadcast in Europe. He lives in Paris and New York City.
Tom Joslin was a documentary filmmaker, teacher and writer. His work included Blackstar: Autobiography of a Close Friend, a film about him coming out as a gay man, and The Architecture of the Mountains, an experimental work in which actual dreams were dramatized.