Often autobiographical in content and experimental in form, Friedrich's films question illusion, belief, cultural and sexual identity and the conventions of documentary and narrative films. Having produced eleven 16mm works which weave black and white images, voice-over, interviews, "street footage," and silence, her most recent project combines the artifice of fiction and the direct address of documentary to explore the experiences of lesbians during childhood. In all her films, Friedrich starts with material from her own life, or the lives of people around her, extensively researches the subject, (be it World War Two or the lives of nuns), conducts interviews and/or writes a narrative, shoots and collects footage, optically prints and re-works her footage and, during months in the editing room, fashions a structure by discovering the unexpected relationships between disparate images and texts. The result: ingenious formal strategies and complex, provocative, visually pleasurable representations of a great range of interior states.

"I start making a film when I stumble upon something I'm afraid to think about. I often work with material from my own life because I hope that forces me to be honest. What I've observed of human nature makes me think that most of us don't fit into the normal categories, so I think that creating an accurate portrait of a person, place, or an event is I think one of my main tasks as an artist is to try to create accurate portraits of those people, places or events that have been ignored or misrepresented, but I also dream of making comedies."