Goldstein

Goldstein, the feature film debut of talented director Philip Kaufman (The Right Stuff, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Quills), is an early example of American independent filmmaking from the early 1960s. A fable about an old man with an odd effect on those he encounters, the film is a funny, warm-hearted postcard from an important moment in American cinema.

Goldstein, starring veteran character actor Lou Gilbert (Viva Zapata!, The Great White Hope), shared the Prix de la Nouvelle Critique at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival with Bertolucci's Before the Revolution. Cinema deity Jean Renoir called the film "the best American film I have seen in 20 years."

Kaufman was encouraged to film Goldstein by renowned author Anais Nin, when she was a visiting lecturer and Kaufman a student at the University of Chicago. Goldstein was filmed on actual Chicago locations and includes appearances by notable cultural figures of the city, including author Nelson Algren, Second City founder Del Close, and original cast member Severn Darden. Other participants contributing to the pedigree of this indie gem include filmmaker Adolfas Mekas (Hallelujah the Hills), brother of experimental director and longtime Village Voice critic Jonas Mekas, and actor Ben Carruthers, star of John Cassavetes' Shadows.