Roberta Friedman

Higher Love

A blue collar worker tries to rescue his pregnant, heroin-addicted girlfriend from the notorious streets of Camden, NJ and her close-knit group of drug users. Once their son is born, he forces her to choose between her life with her drug "family" and one with him and their child.

The Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution

Tells the poignant chapter in the historic struggle to secure equal and adequate access to healthcare for all Americans. Central to the story is the tale of how a new national program, Medicare, was used to mount a dramatic, coordinated effort that desegregated thousands of hospitals across the country in a matter of months.

In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams

Making it in New York City is tough. Few get the chance to live out their dreams, and the cast and crew of In the Heights know this all too well. This young, diverse group of relatively unknown artists and performers dreamed of making it on Broadway, but are well aware that a new original musical set outside a bodega in the Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights is a highly risky proposition. It took eight years in all, but they succeeded beyond their wildest expectations, winning four Tony Awards along the way, including Best Musical and Best Score for a Musical. This documentary chronicles the personal stories of composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of In the Heights in the months leading up to its 2008 opening night.

Jack and His Friends

Jack is a middle aged, overweight shoe store owner with a secure upper middle class lifestyle, including a beautiful, demanding trophy wife. When Jack "runs into" Rosie and Louie, small time criminals on the run from the law, they kidnap Jack in order to use his off-season, deserted vacation house as a temporary hideout. A thoroughly bizarre and surprising weekend unfolds, full of revelations and reassessments.

Alphabet City

A New York City drug dealer decides to get out of the business, but has to flee from mobsters.