Sara Driver

Directing

Sara Driver

Born 1955-12-15 · Westfield, New Jersey, USA

Sara Miller Driver is an American independent filmmaker and actress. A participant in the independent film scene that flourished in lower Manhattan from the late 1970s through the 1990s, she gained initial recognition as producer of two early films by Jim Jarmusch, Permanent Vacation (1980) and Stranger Than Paradise (1984). Driver has directed two feature films, Sleepwalk (1986) and When Pigs Fly (1993), as well as a notable short film, You Are Not I (1981), and a documentary, Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat (2017), on the young artist's pre-fame life in the burgeoning downtown New York arts scene before the city's massive changes through the 1980s. She served on the juries of various film festivals throughout the 2000s.

Acting credits

The Dead Don't Die poster
5.4

In the sleepy town of Centerville, the lives of a number of interconnected characters are disrupted by the undead.

The Dead Don't Die

2019

Mystery Train poster
7.3

In Memphis, Tennessee, over the course of a single night, the Arcade Hotel, run by an eccentric night clerk and a clueless bellboy, is visited by a young Japanese couple traveling in search of the roots of rock; an Italian woman in mourning who stumbles upon a fleeing charlatan girl; and a comical trio of accidental thieves looking for a place to hide.

Mystery Train

1989

Stranger Than Paradise poster
7.2

New York layabout Willie forms an unexpected bond with his young Hungarian cousin Eva when she pays him a surprise visit. Later, Eva moves in with their aunt in Cleveland, and Willie takes his best friend Eddie to see her—a visit that culminates in a strange, eventful trip to Florida.

Stranger Than Paradise

1984

Bloodhounds of Broadway poster
5.7

On New Year's Eve 1928, in the New York underworld, a gambler sells his body to science, a gangster needs a transfusion, and a gambler is on the run

Bloodhounds of Broadway

1989

Uncle Howard poster
6.6

When Howard Brookner lost his life to AIDS in 1989, the 35-year-old director had completed two feature documentaries and was in post-production on his narrative debut, Bloodhounds of Broadway. Twenty-five years later, his nephew, Aaron, sets out on a quest to find the lost negative of Burroughs: The Movie, his uncle's critically-acclaimed portrait of legendary author William S. Burroughs. When Aaron uncovers Howard's extensive archive in Burroughs’ bunker, it not only revives the film for a new generation, but also opens a vibrant window on New York City’s creative culture from the 1970s and ‘80s, and inspires a wide-ranging exploration of his beloved uncle's legacy.

Uncle Howard

2017

Permanent Vacation poster
5.9

In downtown Manhattan, twentysomething Allie, whose father is not around and whose mother is institutionalized, is a big Charlie Parker fan. He almost subconsciously searches for meaning in his life and meets some idiosyncratic characters along the way.

Permanent Vacation

1981

Adios poster
NR

"Shortly after Amos went into home hospice he began filming ‘Adios’, a short film, compiled of 16mm and Super 8 footage, to premiere at his memorial, chronicling all the family and friends who have come to visit. Even Courtney our absolutely wonderful hospice nurse is in it. […] Only twice have we forgotten to film a visitor. Amos designated me the Director of Photography. Since I have to focus and shoot using my bad left eye the joke in our home is that it’s a film by a dying director and a blind DP." – Claudia Summers

Adios

2025

Blank City poster
6.9

In the years before Ronald Reagan took office, Manhattan was in ruins. But true art has never come from comfort, and it was precisely those dire circumstances that inspired artists like Jim Jarmusch, Lizzy Borden, and Amos Poe to produce some of their best works. Taking their cues from punk rock and new wave music, these young maverick filmmakers confronted viewers with a stark reality that stood in powerful contrast to the escapist product being churned out by Hollywood.

Blank City

2011

Keep It for Yourself poster
6.4

Sophie comes to New York from France with the intention of joining a man she met a few months before. She finds herself alone in the apartment of the guy, who left town because he was scared stiff at the idea of seeing her. Originally commissioned as one third of an omnibus feature showcasing the Figaro, a Japan-only retro throwback car.

Keep It for Yourself

1991

No artwork available
NR

A 30 minute film shot by Jim Jarmusch at Rockfield Studio, Wales with never before seen footage of Joe Strummer recording the soundtrack for When Pigs Fly.

Strummer

1993

Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver poster
NR

In 1982, the completion of Jim Jarmusch's sophomore film, Stranger Than Paradise, hinged on producer Sara Driver’s willingness and ability to smuggle one of the world’s rarest and most controversial films across the Atlantic Ocean.

Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver

2021

Figaro Story poster
8.0

An anthology film centering around the worldwide adventures of the Nissan Figaro.

Figaro Story

1993

Some Days in January, 1984 poster
NR

A short behind-the-scenes documentary shot and edited on Super 8 by filmmaker Tom Jarmusch, director Jim Jarmusch’s brother, during the filming of STRANGER THAN PARADISE.

Some Days in January, 1984

2001

The Bowery poster
7.3

This short documentary captures the poetry of the city’s storied skid row before its gentrification.

The Bowery

1994

Behind the camera

Stranger Than Paradise poster
7.2

New York layabout Willie forms an unexpected bond with his young Hungarian cousin Eva when she pays him a surprise visit. Later, Eva moves in with their aunt in Cleveland, and Willie takes his best friend Eddie to see her—a visit that culminates in a strange, eventful trip to Florida.

Stranger Than Paradise

1984

No artwork available
NR

After surviving a mass shooting, Madame P., an internationally renowned opera singer, retreats into a world where dreams and reality blur freely. Walls come alive, figures dance in fireplace flames, tiny people need rescuing from dumplings, and an armadillo — her unlikely companion since the tragedy — follows her everywhere. A close friend and companion helps her navigate daily life. Her everyday life in a medieval mansion is interrupted by two American outsiders who arrive full of good intentions.

An Odd Enchantment

No artwork available
NR

After surviving a mass shooting, Madame P., an internationally renowned opera singer, retreats into a world where dreams and reality blur freely. Walls come alive, figures dance in fireplace flames, tiny people need rescuing from dumplings, and an armadillo — her unlikely companion since the tragedy — follows her everywhere. A close friend and companion helps her navigate daily life. Her everyday life in a medieval mansion is interrupted by two American outsiders who arrive full of good intentions.

An Odd Enchantment

When Pigs Fly poster
5.6

The ghosts of a middle-aged woman and a precocious little girl help an unwed jazz musician and a bar dancer reverse their bad fortune.

When Pigs Fly

1993

No artwork available
NR

A 30 minute film shot by Jim Jarmusch at Rockfield Studio, Wales with never before seen footage of Joe Strummer recording the soundtrack for When Pigs Fly.

Strummer

1993

Sleepwalk poster
6.1

When Nicole, a young copy-shop employee, is hired to translate an ancient Chinese manuscript, she soon finds that the document has strange powers that little by little begin to exert an eerie influence over her life.

Sleepwalk

1986

Sleepwalk poster
6.1

When Nicole, a young copy-shop employee, is hired to translate an ancient Chinese manuscript, she soon finds that the document has strange powers that little by little begin to exert an eerie influence over her life.

Sleepwalk

1986

Sleepwalk poster
6.1

When Nicole, a young copy-shop employee, is hired to translate an ancient Chinese manuscript, she soon finds that the document has strange powers that little by little begin to exert an eerie influence over her life.

Sleepwalk

1986

You Are Not I poster
6.7

A young woman escapes from a mental hospital during the chaos of a nearby multiple-car accident. She is mistaken for a shock victim and is driven to her sister's house by a rescue volunteer. Then the real story begins...

You Are Not I

1981

You Are Not I poster
6.7

A young woman escapes from a mental hospital during the chaos of a nearby multiple-car accident. She is mistaken for a shock victim and is driven to her sister's house by a rescue volunteer. Then the real story begins...

You Are Not I

1981

You Are Not I poster
6.7

A young woman escapes from a mental hospital during the chaos of a nearby multiple-car accident. She is mistaken for a shock victim and is driven to her sister's house by a rescue volunteer. Then the real story begins...

You Are Not I

1981

Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver poster
NR

In 1982, the completion of Jim Jarmusch's sophomore film, Stranger Than Paradise, hinged on producer Sara Driver’s willingness and ability to smuggle one of the world’s rarest and most controversial films across the Atlantic Ocean.

Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver

2021

Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat poster
6.8

Exploring the pre-fame years of the celebrated American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and how New York City, its people, and tectonically shifting arts culture of the late 1970s and '80s shaped his vision.

Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat

2018

The Bowery poster
7.3

This short documentary captures the poetry of the city’s storied skid row before its gentrification.

The Bowery

1994

No artwork available
NR

Documentary about Cookie Mueller

Garden of Ashes

Gold Eye Ball poster
NR

Produced for Glass Eye Pix as part of their 2008 Creepy Christmas Online Film Festival, in which each short was inspired by the inhabitants of a diorama advent calendar. Each filmmaker was assigned a specific date and given the props that were used in that window to use in their short. This is the third film in the series.

Gold Eye Ball

2008

Gold Eye Ball poster
NR

Produced for Glass Eye Pix as part of their 2008 Creepy Christmas Online Film Festival, in which each short was inspired by the inhabitants of a diorama advent calendar. Each filmmaker was assigned a specific date and given the props that were used in that window to use in their short. This is the third film in the series.

Gold Eye Ball

2008