The Cinema opens a new third floor exhibit featuring renowned production designer (and Springs native) Mark Friedberg and his work on films by Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, Ang Lee, Julie Taymour, Darren Aronofsky, Barry Jenkins, and Ed Harris. The Cinema will host a gallery reception and a screening of Pollock on Saturday, July 5th accompanied by a Q&A with Friedberg and producer Fred Berner.
Sag Harbor, NY – Sag Harbor Cinema presents a brand new summer exhibition “Worlds Imagined: Mark Friedberg” showcasing film designs of Springs native Mark Friedberg. The exhibit –the first one ever devoted to the artist- will include a wide selection of behind the scenes video, set stills, drawings, models, and props from ten films for which Friedberg served as production designer: Across the Universe, The Darjeeling Limited, The Ice Storm, If Beale Street Could Talk, Noah, Far from Heaven, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Pollock, Joker, and Joker: Folie à Deux.
“Whether it’s Gotham City, suburban Connecticut in the Fifties, James Baldwin’s Harlem, a luxury train in India, or the living room of a morbidly obese English teacher that never leaves his apartment, Mark’s work brings to a film a unique blend of stylized imagination and realism,” says SHC’s Founding Artistic Director Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan.
“Known for his passion for historical research and for details, Mark makes each of those details alive, meaningful. His imagined worlds are so vivid, I am not surprised so many filmmakers consider his creative collaboration essential. I am very grateful he has accepted to show his art at the Cinema.”
“I’m honored to show my film designs in the place that first inspired my love of movies,” says Friedberg, a lifelong Springs resident who has worked on over 50 films and tv series throughout his accomplished career, forging longlasting creative collaborations with directors such as Todd Haynes, Ang Lee, Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, Julie Taymor, and Todd Phillips.
One of the most respected and sought after production designers of his generation, Friedberg has helped to shape — and continues to shape — the visual landscape of contemporary cinema. This year alone his visionary work will be on display in three upcoming, eagerly-awaited films: Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing, and Jim Jarmusch’s Father, Mother, Sister, Brother.
“I love working with Mark, because his ideas always inspire me to go deeper. He is a philosopher, a theorist, a mensch, and a great designer,” says Darren Aronofsky, who has also collaborated with Friedberg on The Whale and Noah.
“I had the fortune of working with Mark on three films and I discovered his details are always the bigger picture. He’s always an inspiration in mind and visuals,” says cinematographer Ed Lachman, who worked with the designer on Far from Heaven, Wonderstruck, and the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce.
The exhibit will open on Saturday, July 5th at 5:30pm on the Cinema’s third floor with a toast to Friedberg and his work. The reception will be followed by a screening of Ed Harris’s 2000 film Pollock about Abstract Expressionist painter (and fellow Springs resident) Jackson Pollock. The film was shot locally in East Hampton and surrounding areas with great access to the painter’s studio and property provided by the Pollock-Krasner House. The screening will include a Q&A with Friedberg and the film’s producer Fred Berner.
Friedberg’s other work includes Underground Railroad, Wonderstruck, Paterson, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Selma, Mildred Pierce, Mufasa, The Whale, The Upside, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Producers, The Tempest, Broken Flowers, Synecdoche, NY, and more.
Further information about the exhibit opening and related screenings will be made available on the Cinema’s website, sagharborcinema.org.
“Worlds Imagined: Mark Friedberg” exhibit will be on view at the Sag Harbor Cinema through August.
ABOUT MARK FRIEDBERG:
Mark Friedberg is an artist and production designer whose work has helped shape the visual landscape of contemporary cinema for over three and a half decades. A lifelong resident of Springs, New York, Friedberg traces his earliest inspiration to daily walks past the Pollock House and the flickering screen of the old Sag Harbor Cinema, where he first fell in love with the transformative possibilities of film.
Over the course of his career, Friedberg has been known for his collaborative relationships with auteur directors—visionaries such as Darren Aronofsky, Barry Jenkins, Jim Jarmusch, Todd Haynes, and Spike Lee. His longtime collaborations also include multiple films with Ang Lee (The Ice Storm, Ride with the Devil, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk) and Wes Anderson (The Life Aquatic, The Darjeeling Limited), as well as Across the Universe and The Tempest with Julie Taymor and Pollock with Ed Harris.
Friedberg has designed a wide array of iconic films from the highly stylized melodrama Far from Heaven to the fractured surrealism of Synecdoche, New York and the poetic realism of If Beale Street Could Talk. He has presented historical settings for the socially relevant Selma and Underground Railroad. Friedberg has defined his career by working on films of all sizes from the monumental Noah to the contained intimacy of The Whale. His work reveals a profound sensitivity to tone, narrative, and place. His production design centers around emotional architecture—spaces that reflect the interior lives of the characters aligning them with the deeper rhythms of the story.
He received a BAFTA nomination for his design of Joker, an Emmy Award for Mildred Pierce, and served as executive producer and designer on its sequel Joker: Folie à Deux. Most recently, Friedberg completed production design for Aronofsky’s upcoming Caught Stealing and Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest.
Friedberg is also a mentor to a new generation of designers and filmmakers, sharing the hard-earned insights of a life in visual storytelling while learning fresh approaches along the way. His legacy is not only visible in the films he has helped shape but also in the creative paths of those he has guided.
In all of his work—on screen and beyond—Friedberg remains deeply rooted in the artistic community of the East End, where the harmony between nature, memory, and imagination remain essential.
ABOUT THE FILM:
POLLOCK
Directed by Ed Harris
USA, 2000; 122 mins, in English
Rated R
A look back into the life of the extraordinary abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, a man who has fittingly been called an artist dedicated to concealment and a celebrity who nobody knew. The movie follows Pollock through the 40s and 50s – from being a down and out artist, through his defining relationship with wife Lee Krasner, and, finally, to self-destruction.
In his directorial debut, Ed Harris stars as Jackson Pollock, Marcia Gay Harden as Lee Krasner (Academy Award winning role), John Heard as Tony Smith, Jeffrey Tambor as Clement Greenberg, Jennifer Connelly as Ruth Klingman, Val Kilmer as Willem De Kooning, and Amy Madigan as Peggy Guggenheim.
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About the Sag Harbor Cinema
As a not-for-profit 501(c)3, community-based organization, Sag Harbor Cinema is dedicated to presenting the past, present and future of the Movies and to preserving and educating about films, filmmaking, and the film-going experience in its three state-of-the-art theaters. The Cinema engages its audiences and the community year-round through dialogue, discovery, and appreciation of the moving image – from blockbusters to student shorts and everything in between. Revitalized and reimagined through unprecedented community efforts to rebuild the iconic Main Street structure after a fire nearly destroyed it in 2016, SHC continues a long historic tradition of entertainment in the heart of Sag Harbor Village. SHC Members enjoy discounts on tickets and merchandise.