Bernstein will be a 30-minute film portrait of Steven J. Bernstein (aka Jesse Bernstein), one of Seattle's most celebrated voices. His angry, surprisingly fresh, lyrical writings are about sensitive souls, drifters and drug addicts; people alienated by a society that refuses to understand them. He peeled back the ugliness and the darkness of life on the fringe to expose tender and not so tender human feeling. His unique rhythms, filled with humor and pain, were especially exciting when read in his own gravely voice. People packed into theaters, bars and cafes to hear him read and sing. Unfortunately Jesse died by his own hand in 1991 and his work has not yet found much of the audience it deserves outside of the Northwest. This living documentary of SJB is intended not just to eulogize, but to try to invoke his vibrant spirit as it lives on in his work and in the memories of those he inspired. it subtly questions a society where so many people seem to fall through what little safety net exists.

Over the years because of my face and my unfortunate attitude towards it,
I have had to be institutionalized several times.
I became a drug addict, alcoholic, and criminal.
When I comb my hair, I wear a blank paper mask with eye holes.
I shave with an electric razor and no mirror like a blind man.
You have seen more of me already than I will ever see of myself.
I hope you aren't as alarmed or offended by my face as I am.
"Look in the mirror, Stevie! See? There's Stevie."
I stand there sometimes in secret, looking.
There will always be something wrong with my face
--from Face by Steven J. Bernstein