Neil Ira Needleman

On Independence Day, America's birthday, I was thinking about an immigrant friend of mine who had to self-deport because Trump's ICE stormtroopers had become a living nightmare.

The colleagues, collaborators, and former lovers of a recently deceased theater personality gather together for an impromptu memorial service in this drama featuring the final full-length feature performance of actor Quentin Crisp. Heartfelt pathos blends with over-the-top comedy when the driving force behind a controversial theater group dies. Frank David Niles was the heart and soul of the "In Your Face" theater company, and now his friends and colleagues are determined to give him a proper send off. In addition to marking Crisp's final full-length feature performance, Red Ribbins also marks the return to the big screen for former The Devil in Miss Jones star Georgina Spelvin.

This work is part of a video series that was shot in an apartment building that provides subsidized apartments for residents who are mostly elderly and infirm. Each of the videos in the series explores the spaces and characteristics of a different floor of the building (“On the Second Floor,” “On the Third Floor,” “On the Fourth Floor,” “On the Fifth Floor,” and “Fade Out in Color”). The second floor of the building features several old/forlorn/discarded chairs that are scattered in the liminal spaces. I have never seen anyone sitting in those chairs. (Who would want to?) And considering the depressing atmosphere of the building, it doesn’t surprise me that the public water fountain doesn’t work. I suppose that this video can be summed up as a comparison between the “haves” and the “have nots.” Into which category do you fit? If you are a “have not,” sit down in one of these chairs and relax. You are not alone.

Poignant story of two ugly people ("meeskeits" in Yiddish) and the beautiful relationship they never had.

Does listening to Bach transform teenage boys into homosexuals?

A soothing, symmetrical, rhythmic rhapsody.

A visit to a museum of contemporary art (MOCA) to see an exhibition of art from Haiti...followed immediately by a visit to a garish, luxurious shopping mall. This video attempts to reconcile these two very different words.