The Work of Jack Feldstein

For over a year now, I’ve been good friends with filmmaker Jack Feldstein, who I consider a true artist with integrity.  I first met Jack at a film festival where he mentioned he had a film playing that was a “neon animation.”  I had no idea what that meant, and so as I sat through the block of short films featuring his work.  Every time an animated film came on, I wondered if this was the “neon animation.”  Then, finally, when his film started, I had zero doubt in my mind that this was it.  You could not mistake the neon look!  The film was THE ECSTASY OF GARY GREEN, which tells a story about a young man who finds himself in the world.  The visuals of the film consisted of pre-existing bits of animation that had been manipulated and “diluted” to have a neon-sign look, and been put together to form a new narrative, narrated to us by a Woody Allen-esque stream-of-conscious voice (Jack himself) that gives the whole film a “free-flowing” feel.  I interpreted the film as being a celebration of life, but underneath all that, a celebration of animation.  Since then, I have seen several of Jack’s films and I recommend them to everyone. 

Of the ones that are narrated by Jack himself, these are the essentials:
    -THE ECSTASY OF GARY GREEN
    -A WONDROUS FILM ABOUT EMMA BROOKS
    -THE LOSER WHO WON
    -RESCUING OEDIPUS REX
    -THE FANTASTICAL WORLD OF SCRIPTWRITING

Of those featuring voice-work by other actors, these are my favorite
    -HOW TO BE ROMANTIC IN NEW YORK
    -MANAHATTA

Jack doesn’t need me to promote his work; he has played in festivals all over the world, especially in his native Australia, and here in New York he’s been screened at different film forums at the Bowery Poetry Club, Millennium Workshop, and FilmWax.  He’s also a playwright and does a lot of videos for the fashion world.

It was Jack who helped develop The Subway Film Series and brought it to my attention.  While I made Q TO THE 6 TRAIN, based on a poem by Cheryl Dumesnil, he made SUBWAY SERVICES, based on a poem by Philip Dacey.  What an honor that one year after we meet, we are standing on stage together, having our films play side-by-side!  There are so many short films out there, but I find the collective neon animations of Jack Feldstein to be among my favorites.  Jack has invented a new language of cinema, and that takes talent!