Paul Festa is an American writer, filmmaker, and violinist. Born and raised in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, he currently resides there with his husband James Harker.

Writing

Festa's essays have appeared in ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', '' Nerve'', '' Salon'', and anthologies.

Film

His widely acclaimed first film '' Apparition of the Eternal Church'' (2006, 51 minutes) captures the responses of 31 artists and writers—including literary critic

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...

, filmmaker

John Cameron Mitchell John Cameron Mitchell (born April 21, 1963) is a two-time Tony Award winning American actor, playwright, screenwriter, singer, songwriter, producer and director. He is best known as the writer, director and star of the 2001 film '' Hedwig and th ...

Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters were an American pop rock band formed in 2001. Its members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real (who replaced Paddy Boom) ...

singer

Ana Matronic Ana Kirby (; born August 14, 1974), known by her stage name Ana Matronic, is an American singer, best known as the female co-lead vocalist for the pop rock band Scissor Sisters. Career She joined Scissor Sisters, founded by Jake Shears and ...

, novelist

Daniel Handler Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970) is an American author, musician, screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is best known for his children's book series ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' and ''All the Wrong Questions ...

(a.k.a.

Lemony Snicket Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American author Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970). Handler has published several children's books under the name, most notably ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which has sold over 60 million copies and s ...

), and drag performers

Justin Bond Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Described as "the best cabaret artist of heir!-- MOS:GENDERID --> generation" and a "tornado of art and activism", they first achieved prominence under the pseudo ...

(of Kiki and Herb) and

Jackie Beat Jackie Beat (born July 24, 1963) is the drag persona of actor, singer, songwriter and screenwriter Kent Fuher. Beat has appeared in a number of independent feature films both in and out of drag, including '' Wigstock: The Movie'', '' Flawless'', ...

—to the music of Olivier Messiaen. It won awards at several film festivals. Festa stars in his second film, '' The Glitter Emergency'' (2010, 20 minutes) with members of the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

and the

Cockettes The Cockettes were an avant garde psychedelic hippie theater group founded by Hibiscus (George Edgerly Harris III) in the fall of 1969. The troupe was formed out of a group of hippie artists, men and women, who were living in Kaliflower, one of ...

, opposite the

Trannyshack Trannyshack is a San Francisco drag club started by drag queen Heklina in 1996 as an offshoot of Klubstitute, and was a weekly fixture at The Stud bar in San Francisco for 12 years, drawing large crowds on a regular basis. The Tuesday night ...

performer Peggy L'Eggs (Matthew Simmons). Recipient of several film festival prizes and critical acclaim, the silent-film comedy is set to the second half of the

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 was the only concerto for violin composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Composed in 1878, it is one of the best-known violin concertos. History The piece was written in Clarens, a Swiss resort on the sho ...

, which Festa plays in the film. Festa wrote, produced, and edited, with director Austin Forbord, ''Stage Left: A Story of Theater in San Francisco'' (2011), an award-winning documentary about the growth of theater in the San Francisco Bay Area from the Actor's Workshop in the 1950s through the present day. The film features director

Oskar Eustis Oskar Eustis (born July 31, 1958) has been the Artistic Director at the Public Theater in New York City since 2005. He has worked as a director, dramaturg, and artistic director for theaters around the United States.Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

, Bill Irwin, and

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cro ...

, and is narrated by comedian

Marga Gomez Marga Gomez is a comedian, writer, performer, and teaching artist from Harlem, New York. She has written and performed in thirteen solo plays which have been presented nationally and internationally. Her acting credits include Off-Broadway and na ...

. Festa's documentary '' Tie It Into My Hand'' (2013, 80 minutes) screened as a work in progress at ODC Theater in 2012. It captures several dozen artists—including poet

Robert Pinsky Robert Pinsky (born October 20, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most o ...

, pianist

Gary Graffman Gary Graffman (born October 14, 1928) is an American classical pianist, teacher and administrator. Early life Graffman was born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents. Having started piano at age 3, Graffman entered the Curtis Institute of M ...

, actors Alan Cumming,

Mink Stole Nancy Paine Stoll (born August 25, 1947), known professionally as Mink Stole, is an American actress from Baltimore, Maryland. She began her career working for director John Waters, and has appeared in all of his feature films to date (a distinc ...

, and

—giving Festa a violin lesson as they recount stories from their lives as artists, while also responding to the story of the hand injury that curtailed Festa's musical career.

Music

As a violinist, Festa won the San Francisco Symphony Young Musicians Award, toured Scandinavia as soloist with the California Youth Symphony, studied violin at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

from 1990 to 1993, and performed in New York with Albert Fuller's Helicon Ensemble. Fourteen years after a repetitive strain injury curtailed his musical career, Festa resumed public performances in 2007 as both violinist and actor with th
Stephen Pelton Dance Theater
in San Francisco, and th
North Bay Shakespeare Company
in Novato, California. At the October 2007

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

br>Messiaen Project
conference "Messiaen the Theologian", Festa and pianist Luke Berryman gave the U.S. premiere of Messiaen's recently discovered 1933 ''Fantaisie'' for violin and piano. He gave the New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles premieresMessiaen Centenary Celebration
/ref> before playing the

Betts Stradivarius The ''Betts Stradivarius'' is a violin made in 1704 by the Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona. It is one of around 650 known extant Stradivari instruments. It has been owned by the French violin maker Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume and Lon ...

at the October 2008 Washington, D.C., premiere with pianist

Jerome Lowenthal Jerome Lowenthal (born February 11, 1932) is an American classical pianist. He has served as chair of the piano department at the Juilliard School in New York. Additionally, Lowenthal is on the faculty at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbar ...

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Other appearances

Festa appears briefly in the film
''Act of Violence'' (1979)''Filthy Gorgeous: The Trannyshack Story'' (2005)
and ''

Shortbus ''Shortbus'' is a 2006 American erotic comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. The plot revolves around a sexually diverse ensemble of colorful characters trying desperately to connect in an early 2000s New York City. T ...

'' (2006).

Writing

Film

Music

Other appearances

References

External links