Virginal Young Blondes

The Movies of Mark L. Feinsod
The Deafening Silence of a Very Bright Light (2009) Virginal Young Blondes (2004) After an Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer (2003) The Boy From New York City (2002) A Sense of Entitlement (2000) Brno Train Death Friend (1998) Love and Lung Cancer (1998) Director's Reel Contact me To Here Knows When (blog) Purchase A Sense of Entitlement and After an Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer Links	Bright Orange Turntable presents Virginal Young Blondes (2004) DV/color/stereo/16:34 Watch the entire movie Watch a clip Watch a documentary on the making of this short























CAST john o'hara ANDY WALDSCHMIDT sofia MELISSA SILVER new york state unemployment insurance tel-service line/bar patron #1 LUCIANA MALLOZZI john's father/bar patron #2 JOSHUA D. BRINEN the bartender VALERIE CLIFT bar patron #3 BRADLEY CARNEY the chocolatier FERNANDA SOUZA sofia's voice MARIE-LINE GRINDA the chocolatier's voice JENNIFER VILAS HANKS CREW writer/producer/director/camera/editor MARK L. FEINSOD production manager/stills photographer/production documentarian JENNIFER VILAS HANKS production adviser LEE BECKETT sound recordist/boom operator/post-production audio mixer L. TAYLOR EDGAR sound recordist/boom operator THOM BOYER composer ROLAND WOLFF additional obnoxiously loud sound effects BENSON SEBASTIAN production assistant MICHAEL SUGIHARTO assistant to the director RICH BEISCHER ms. silver's costume courtesy of ANNA GARNER/CHERISH THANKS 2-POP.NET PETER BASICH and THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND BRIDGES DAVID BAEUMLER VINNIE BARILLI and BUBBY'S LEE BECKETT DIRK BOGARDE JOSHUA D. BRINEN STEVEN BRINEN PETE CAIGAN MICHAEL CAINE JULIE CHRISTIE CITY OF NEW YORK MAYOR'S OFFICE OF FILM, THEATRE, AND BROADCASTING VICTORIA CLARK TOM COURTENAY ZACHARY CUTLER L TAYLOR EDGAR RICHARD M. FEINSOD, M.D. ERIC FROEHLIG ANNA GARNER and CHERISH MITCHELL GOLDMAN MARIE-LINE GRINDA PHIL HALL JENNIFER VILAS HANKS ALFRED HITCHCOCK MIKE KERVEL DONNA KRAMER KIMBERLY LEBRON MARIBEL LIEBERMAN and MARIEBELLE LUCIANA MALLOZZI JOHN MCCARRON DAN MERCADO and THE PARKS DEPARTMENT OF NEW YORK CITY NEW YORK CITY PAULINE PIECHOTA MARLENE RHEIN BEN ROBBINS NINON ROGERS JOHN SCHLESINGER RIKE SCHOLLE THE SCREEN ACTOR'S GUILD BENSON SEBASTIAN SHOOTING PEOPLE FERNANDA SOUZA STEREOLAB RACHEL SUGIHARTO ANDY WALDSCHMIDT ROLAND WOLFF shot in New York City from April 22nd - April 26th, 2004 © BRIGHT ORANGE TURNTABLE and MARK L. FEINSOD 2004

Screenings Final Cut screening series (Brighton, England: February 22nd, 2006) eKsperim[E]nto Festival of Film, Video & New Media (Manila, the Philippines: September 20th – 24th, 2005) *Wreck-Beach International Film Festival (Wreck-Beach, Ontario, Canada: August 1st – 6th, 2005). Best Editing.* Flickerings Film Showcase at Cornerstone Festival (Marietta, IL: June 30th – July 3rd, 2005) NewFilmmakers at the Anthology Film Archives (New York, NY: June 22nd, 2005) Alternative Film Series at the Dorman Street Saloon (Indianapolis, IN: May 21st, 2005) Xperimental 4.0 at the Pantheon Gallery (Lefkosia, Cyprus: May 19th and 20th, 2005) ANF Short Film Collective sponsored by the ActNow Foundation (Brooklyn, NY: March 7th, 2005) An Evening With Mark L. Feinsod at The Pioneer Theater (New York, NY: January 9th, 2005) shorts@DEKK (New York, NY: December 19th, 2004)



Press

"Acclaimed short film creator Mark Feinsod will be on hand to introduce & talk about his work, shown for the first time all together. Shorts about the blotchy skin and stretch-marked belly that hides under humanities' make-up are great for a date...if you hate yourself. Good movies, though...." —The New York Press online listing — January 5th-11th, 2005

The New York Post — Gentleman Prefers Blondes by Vincent Musetto, January 9th, 2005 (Click on the article for a larger, more easily readible view)

Time Out New York, January 6—12, 2005

Mark L. Feinsod's enigmatic and disturbing short film traces the unlikely seduction of an unemployed slacker by an ice queen blonde offering "private striptease" sessions. This wise story of people who are not what they seem to be achieves more in its 16-minute running time than most feature films could ever dream of achieving. *—Phil Hall, The Ten Best Unseen Films of 2004, Film Threat, December 13th, 2004*

Mark L. Feinsod, the New York filmmaker whose short films "A Sense of Entitlement" (2000) and "After an Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer" (2003) detailed privileged twentysomethings squandering their lives on self-absorption, has crafted a bold and disturbing new short film called "Virginal Young Blondes." The eponymous ladies don't make an appearance in this 16-minute short, which is one of the many enigmatic puzzles of this challenging endeavor. Young John O'Hara is unemployed and not doing too much to actively hunt out work. His father, at wit's end on a telephone call, is upset that John is not being more aggressive in the employment hunt - but the elder O'Hara reluctantly agrees to send his son a check (obviously not for the first time). John leaves his claustrophobic apartment for a cafe, and he is immediately eyed by a silky blonde who mistakes him for a trust fund baby. She's Sofia and her specialty (according to her crimson business card) is private striptease and massage. John, intrigued by Sofia, covers the cost of her drink even though his wallet is running low on cash. John and Sofia stop the window of a store which John blandly announces is "the most expensive chocolate shop in the world." He buys them two small cakes, which comes to a whopping $42.50. The store's clerk goes through elaborate lengths to prepare them, even taping them to the bottom of an ornate gift box. John and Sofia wind up on the Brooklyn Bridge. After sharing a joint, Sofia lets loose on her story: she dropped out of high school and shacked up with a drug dealer who was later killed by rival thugs. She now supports herself with her striptease and massage work, with a bit of dominatrix posing thrown in for those seeking a real tough broad. She abruptly leaves John for another appointment. John, stoned and alone, opens the gift box and begins to eat the cakes. "Virginal Young Blondes" is a tight work where everything is never what it seems. John, played by Andy Waldschmidt, is handsome and well-dressed in the best preppie tradition - but he's basically an empty vessel, lacking the passion to secure anything for himself. He literally waits for things to happen to him â€“ his detached reaction to Sofia's come-on suggests she is not the first woman to throw herself at him. Yet he clearly has nothing to offer: he is unable to match Sofia's strange tale of drug trafficking among the youth of the tony East Coast elite except to recall where he went to college. Sofia is more puzzling. She literally seems like two women cohabiting the same body - and in the film, she literally is, with Melissa Silver as the physical Sofia and Marie-Line Grinda dubbing in her lines. She has an ice queen elegance, but her life story is messy and stained with criminal activity culminating in her ex-boyfriend's murder and her rape by the killers. Her interest in John is strictly financial, and when he embraces her but suddenly retracts his grasp she tells him it is all right, but it is obvious she does not want to encourage emotional attachment. Feinsod wears nearly every hat in this film: director, producer, writer, camera and editing. Benson Sebastian is credited for "additional obnoxiously loud sound effects" and his work is wonderful - the honks, sirens, drone and whistles of a typical New York day are wonderfully clear in the soundtrack background. The special Thanks listing in the closing credits includes mention of Dirk Bogarde, Julie Christie and John Schlesinger - and one can ponder how Feinsod would helm a remake of that trio's 1965 classic "Darling." If "Virginal Young Blondes" is any indication, he is the right man for that job. —Phil Hall, Film Threat, December 1st, 2004

Production (from April 22nd 'til April 26th, 2004) The movie was shot in four locations: MarieBelle's in SoHo, Mike Kervel's apartment in Clinton/northern Chelsea, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Bubby's Pie Company in TriBeCa....















shorts@DEKK (December 19th, 2004) These are photos of friends who came to the screening. People pictured are Paul Winkler, Monika Przybylska (and the director of a film that she was in), Lauren Purcell and Abby Fleischer.









An Evening with Mark L. Feinsod at the Pioneer Theater (January 9th, 2005) The big event went really well — I'd hafta say that the surprise of the vening was seeing my name on The Pioneer's marquee as I pulled up in a cab. The cinema was crowded, and everybody seemed to enjoy the movies (especially "A Sense Of Entitlement", which screened on 35mm, and "Virginal Young Blondes"). Afterwards, a bunch of us celebrated at in Vino, a wine bar on East 4th Street here in New York City. Folks present included "Virginal Young Blondes" Production Manager Jennifer Vilas Hanks; Production Assistant Michael Sugiharto; Ray Privett, the Programmer at The Pioneer Theater; Joshua D. Brinen and Luciana Mallozzi, who played "John's Father" and "The New York State Unemployment Insurance Line" voice, respectively; and my old IFP buddies, artist Lauren Purcell and Ryan Werner (who's now a big muckety-muck at Wellspring Media). Thanks to everybody who came!!!!