Jack Feldstein
Encyclopedia
Jack Feldstein is a Jewish animator
and scriptwriter from Sydney
, Australia
, now living in New York. He is the pioneer of Neon Films.
His trademark style is the "neonizing" of a combination of live action video recording and public domain
material, particularly cartoons. "Neonizing" is a complex computer technique that renders the lines of an image to be like a neon sign.
Jack studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) course in playwriting and graduated from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in scriptwriting in 1992.
Feldstein was a scriptwriter for many years before, as he puts it, he woke up one morning and began making neon films. In the 1990s he was instrumental in developing series for Australian television. He then went on to be Head Writer for Brilliant Digital Entertainment where he was involved in creating 3D computer animated multipath webisode series which included Xena
-Warrior Princess, Superman
and Ace Ventura
.
He describes neon animation, (neonism)...as a deconstructionist, post-modern animation filmmaking style that utilises appropriation and pop art techniques in a ”Warhol meets Vegas” look. It is a stream-of-consciousness narrative with a cartoon aesthetic. Neonism takes modernist stream-of-consciousness filmmaking into a post-modern and humorous form.
Metempsychotic (reincarnated) modernism is another description of Feldstein's neon animation aesthetic.
Neon animation has also been described as re-animation.
His rambling seemingly make-it-up-as-you-go-along, stream of consciousness ironic monologue narratives have been likened to Woody Allen
and Spalding Gray
but with an Australian twist.
Recently Feldstein completed a six part series called "The Adventures of..." in which he continued the ironic exploration of his theme of rescuing great literary characters such as Oedipus Rex and Gregor Samsa and playfully interferring in the lives of modernist writers like Virginia Woolf
, James Joyce
, Marcel Proust
, JD Salinger and Jack Kerouac
.
His narrative documentary neon animations "The Fantastical World of Scriptwriting" and "The Psychology of Scriptwriting" both exploring scriptwriting, have also now been released.
Currently, Feldstein is working on completing a neon animation adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground
and has completed versions of HP Lovecraft's tales "Ex Oblivione" and "Memory". He is planning to create a third neon animation in his scriptwriting trilogy, which will be called "Confessions of a Scriptwriter" and also in development is a collaboration with New York based actor, Shane Baker entitled " How to Break into Yiddish Vaudeville".
"You Might be the One" a song by Botanica, the New York based band, is Feldstein's most recent music video neon animation. And his latest project is neon animations to various New York spoken word poets including one of Walt Whitman
's poem "Manahatta" performed by poet, George Wallace, the writer in residence at the Walt Whitman
Birthplace, Huntington, New York
.
As an active participant and supporter of the Kino (movement)
in Sydney, Australia, Jack used to often screened his neon animations at their monthly events.
On May 14th 2011, a retrospective of Feldstein's neon animation films was screened as part of the Personal Cinema Series at Millennium Film Workshop
in downtown Manhattan and subsequently at the Filmwax Film Series in Brooklyn, NY.
Jack is currently the art/film editor for "Unlikely Stories" an online US literary publication for poetry, film, art and essays.
For New York Fashion Week 2011, Feldstein co-directed with top New York designer, Norma Kamali
, the 3D Fashion Film presenting the Norma Kamali Spring Collection 2012. The film was premiered at Lincoln Center, September 14th 2011. Included in the 3D film is Feldstein's first foray in 3D neon animation.
Feldstein's short films have been shown at film festivals around the world. Some of these festivals and honors include:
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
and scriptwriter from Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, now living in New York. He is the pioneer of Neon Films.
His trademark style is the "neonizing" of a combination of live action video recording and public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
material, particularly cartoons. "Neonizing" is a complex computer technique that renders the lines of an image to be like a neon sign.
Jack studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) course in playwriting and graduated from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in scriptwriting in 1992.
Feldstein was a scriptwriter for many years before, as he puts it, he woke up one morning and began making neon films. In the 1990s he was instrumental in developing series for Australian television. He then went on to be Head Writer for Brilliant Digital Entertainment where he was involved in creating 3D computer animated multipath webisode series which included Xena
Xena
Xena is a fictional character from Robert Tapert's Xena: Warrior Princess franchise. She first appeared in the 1995–1999 television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before going on to appear in Xena: Warrior Princess TV show and subsequent comic book of the same name...
-Warrior Princess, Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
and Ace Ventura
Ace Ventura
Ace Ventura is a fictional character, created by screenwriters Jack Bernstein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk. Ace was played by Jim Carrey in the films He was voiced by Michael Daingerfield in the animated television series.-Biography:Ace is a...
.
He describes neon animation, (neonism)...as a deconstructionist, post-modern animation filmmaking style that utilises appropriation and pop art techniques in a ”Warhol meets Vegas” look. It is a stream-of-consciousness narrative with a cartoon aesthetic. Neonism takes modernist stream-of-consciousness filmmaking into a post-modern and humorous form.
Metempsychotic (reincarnated) modernism is another description of Feldstein's neon animation aesthetic.
Neon animation has also been described as re-animation.
His rambling seemingly make-it-up-as-you-go-along, stream of consciousness ironic monologue narratives have been likened to Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
and Spalding Gray
Spalding Gray
Spalding Rockwell Gray was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist and monologuist...
but with an Australian twist.
Recently Feldstein completed a six part series called "The Adventures of..." in which he continued the ironic exploration of his theme of rescuing great literary characters such as Oedipus Rex and Gregor Samsa and playfully interferring in the lives of modernist writers like Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
, James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
, JD Salinger and Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
.
His narrative documentary neon animations "The Fantastical World of Scriptwriting" and "The Psychology of Scriptwriting" both exploring scriptwriting, have also now been released.
Currently, Feldstein is working on completing a neon animation adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground
Notes from Underground
Notes from Underground is an 1864 short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Notes is considered by many to be the first existentialist novel...
and has completed versions of HP Lovecraft's tales "Ex Oblivione" and "Memory". He is planning to create a third neon animation in his scriptwriting trilogy, which will be called "Confessions of a Scriptwriter" and also in development is a collaboration with New York based actor, Shane Baker entitled " How to Break into Yiddish Vaudeville".
"You Might be the One" a song by Botanica, the New York based band, is Feldstein's most recent music video neon animation. And his latest project is neon animations to various New York spoken word poets including one of Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
's poem "Manahatta" performed by poet, George Wallace, the writer in residence at the Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
Birthplace, Huntington, New York
Huntington, New York
The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, USA. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. Huntington is part of the New York metropolitan...
.
As an active participant and supporter of the Kino (movement)
Kino (movement)
Kino is a movement created as a means of providing both amateur and professional filmmakers with a place to create and screen their short-films. Kino Kabaret is a type of innovative film-making lab where invited artists create films in a mindset of spontaneity and collaboration...
in Sydney, Australia, Jack used to often screened his neon animations at their monthly events.
On May 14th 2011, a retrospective of Feldstein's neon animation films was screened as part of the Personal Cinema Series at Millennium Film Workshop
Millennium Film Workshop
The Millennium Film Workshop is a non-profit media arts center and cinema located in the East Village neighborhood of New York City dedicated to the exhibition, study, and practice of avant-garde and experimental film, video, and all technologies of the moving image.- History :An integral part of...
in downtown Manhattan and subsequently at the Filmwax Film Series in Brooklyn, NY.
Jack is currently the art/film editor for "Unlikely Stories" an online US literary publication for poetry, film, art and essays.
For New York Fashion Week 2011, Feldstein co-directed with top New York designer, Norma Kamali
Norma Kamali
Norma Kamali is a New York-based fashion designer born in 1945. She is best known for the "sleeping bag" coat, "parachute pants" made from silk parachutes, and versatile multi-use pieces. She designed the red one-piece bathing suit worn by Farah Fawcett in the iconic 1976 Charlie's Angels poster....
, the 3D Fashion Film presenting the Norma Kamali Spring Collection 2012. The film was premiered at Lincoln Center, September 14th 2011. Included in the 3D film is Feldstein's first foray in 3D neon animation.
Feldstein's short films have been shown at film festivals around the world. Some of these festivals and honors include:
- Bowery Poetry ClubBowery Poetry ClubThe Bowery Poetry Club is a New York City poetry performance space founded by Bob Holman in 2002. Located at 308 Bowery, between Bleecker and Houston Streets in Manhattan's East Village, the BPC provides a home base for established and upcoming artists...
, NYC, screened a preview of his ironic take on love "How to be Romantic in New York" in late 2010. - California State UniversityCalifornia State UniversityThe California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
, Chico campus screened "The Atomic Adventures of Jack Kerouac" as part of their Annual Narrative Shorts International Film Festival 2009. - Woodstock, New YorkWoodstock, New YorkWoodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 at the 2000 census.The Town of Woodstock is in the northern part of the county...
Museum Film Festival 2009 and 2010, screened "The Fantastical World of Scriptwriting" with Feldstein presenting his seminar on scriptwriting. - Singapore Short Film Festival (5th) 2009, premiered "Ex Oblivione" in September 2009 in competition for the International "Voice" Award, representing originality and artistic quality.
- Bornshorts, the Film and Music Video Festival in Denmark premiered Feldstein's neon animation music video "Neon Walk 'round Circular Quay" set to Sydney singer-songwriter Maxine Kauter's song, "Some Perfect Day" in late August 2009.
- ScinemaScinemaScinema Festival of Science Film is an Australian film festival celebrating international science-related drama and documentary films. It is held annually in August. The festival was founded with the aim of forging links between the sciences and the arts. Scinema accepts entries from all over the...
09 (Australian Science Film Festival) will premiere "The Psychology of Scriptwriting" during its National Science Week in August 2009. "The Psychology of Scriptwriting" was in competition for the Scinema best animation/experimental film prize. - Moves 09 (Movement On Screen) April 2009, Manchester, the largest exhibition platform for New Media in the UK, presented the world premiere of "The Fantastical World of Scriptwriting". The 32 minute film was described as a fun, unconventional way to teach scriptwriting through educational therapyEducational TherapyEducational Therapy is a form of therapy used to treat individuals with learning differences, disabilities, and challenges. This form of therapy offers a wide range of intensive interventions that are designed to remediate learning problems. These interventions are individualized and unique to the...
. In April 2010, "The Psychology of Scriptwriting" screens at Moves 10. - Soho Rushes Film Festival July 2008, London, UK, where "The Adventures of Virginia Woolf" was a contender for the Broadcast Design Award.
- Sarasota Film FestivalSarasota Film FestivalThe Sarasota Film Festival has been held annually since 1999 in Sarasota, Florida. The festival is held in April and has become one of the top ten independent festivals in North America...
2008, Florida, where "Shmetamorphosis" had its USA premiere. ShortEnd Magazine wrote that Shmetamorphosis was "Thought jarring, often visually abrasive but also intriguing in its original freakishness." - Rotterdam International Film Festival, where in 2006 "The Ecstasy of Gary Green" was chosen to compete for the Tiger Award for short film, and his film "A Wondrous Film about Emma Brooks" was selected for the Rotterdam IFF 2007 program. "Shmetamorphosis" screened in the 2008 New Arrivals Section of Rotterdam International Film Festival 2008. "Shmetamorphosis" had previously been selected as winner of the April 2007 online New Arrivals section of Rotterdam International Film Festival.
- Impakt Film Festival, Utrecht, The Netherlands, where in 2006 "The Ecstasy of Gary Green" screened and selected for 2007 was " A Wondrous Film about Emma Brooks". In 2009, Impakt Film Festival screened "The Fantastical World of Scriptwriting" during their Festival.
- Melbourne International Animation Film Festival, where in 2006 he received an Honorable Mention for "The Ecstasy of Gary Green."
- Sydney International Film Festival where "The Loser Who Won", his neon animation about a guy who's unlucky-in-love finally finding love, which had premiered at the New York Jewish Film Festival at Lincoln Center, was screened at the Dendy Awards for 2005. In 2007, "A Wondrous Film about Emma Brooks" was again a finalist for the Dendy Awards, Sydney Film FestivalSydney Film FestivalThe Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
. A Sydney film reviewer wrote "Jack Feldstein is a comic genius. This neon animation samples our (Freudian) dreams, paranoias and obsessions until young Emma's coming-of-age journey becomes our own. Fantastic." - Short Fuse Film Festival, 2005, for his film "The Theft."
- The Bunker International Film Festival 2007 (Italy/The Netherlands) where " A Wondrous Film about Emma Brooks" won an audience favourite prize.
- Wollongong, Short-Sited Festival where in 2005 he received the Best Short Film prize (Australian National Short Film) for "The Great Oz Love Yarn". In October 2007, "The Great Oz Love Yarn" was awarded a prize in the under 12 minute films category, at the inaugural Hawkesbury Film Festival, New South Wales, Australia.
- Over The Fence Comedy Festival, where in 2005 his film "Rock Hard" won the Best Film prize. In 2007 "The Great Oz Love Yarn" won Best Director Prize in that festival.
- The Australian Effects & Animation Festival 2002 where his film "Three Months with Pook" was awarded a Certificate of Excellence. In 2004, "Three Months with Pook" was selected for the New Filmakers Film Series in New York.
- As a scriptwriter, in 2000, Feldstein won first prize of $5000 in the Queensland Speech and Drama Teachers' Jubilee National Playwriting Competition for his play "A House Like Any Other" about a Jewish family in a small Australian town. In 2001, his play script of "Three months with Pook", was a finalist in that year's BBC World ServiceBBC World ServiceThe BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
/British CouncilBritish CouncilThe British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
International radio playwriting competition. In October, 2009 the mini musical "Ordinary" was staged in Short and SweetShort and SweetShort+Sweet is a multi-form arts platform presenting festivals in theatre, dance, music-theatre and cabaret across Australia and Asia...
and Song at the Pligrim Theatre, Sydney. Feldstein wrote the book and lyrics and the music was composed by Benjamin Ward. A review by Australian Stage, October 9th 2009, said "Jack Feldstein's book & lyrics were, on the whole, sobering and inspirational. The premise, of two carnies desirous of running away from the circus, to join ordinary people was a stroke of pure, fresh, unadulterated genius." In 2009, Feldstein's full length play "The Sparkling City Of Omar Mazen" received a "commended" by that year's BBC World Service International Playwriting Competition.
- In January, 2010, Feldstein's one act play, "The Great Dazzlo" was presented by the Elite Theatre Company, Oxnard, California, directed by oscar-winner Steve Grumette.
- During 2011, Jack's full length playscript "The Ansonia" was workshopped at Broadway Theater Studio in midtown Manhattan.
Selected filmography
- The Ecstasy of Gary Green
- Computer Games
- The Loser Who Won
- Rock Hard
- A Wondrous Film about Emma Brooks
- The Great OZ Love Yarn
- The Adventures of James Joyce
External sources and References
- Complete Filmography and Honors
- IMDB page
- http://www.movementonscreen.org.uk/m09programme/?selected=1&short=77783&id=78244
- http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/392894/A-Wondrous-Film-About-Emma-Brooks/overview
- http://www.cinema.nl/nps-new-arrivals/artikelen/2381232/webcam-interview-with-jack-feldstein
- http://www.mattriviera.net/2007_06_01_archive.html
- http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/programs/nyjff06.htm
- http://www.hour.ca/film/film.aspx?iIDArticle=6101
- http://blazenkabrysha.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/jack-feldstein-interviewed/
- http://www.unlikelystories.org/biofeldstein.shtml