In Loving Memory of Jonathan Kleier: April 2010

Jonathan's film, iJack iRob iSin, premiered last night during the Tribeca Film Festival at Tribeca Cinemas. Over 200 people came and lines were out the door. The first show was sold out to a packed house and we had to do a second showing.

If you missed it, the film is below.

Jonathan's Bernie Madoff Film

The year 2008 brought Americans the largest financial scam ever -- it destroyed the hopes and dreams of thousand of victims, the worst bilking, perhaps, in all of recorded history including civilizations and societies going back to the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and everyone before, after and in-between. Bernard Madoff -- evilest man of many other evil men -- successfully dodged the great wit of all government authority, including the most astute division of government, the S.E.C. However, while mysteries like the building of the great pyramids of ancient Egypt remain unknown, the story of Bernard Madoff will be picked apart by the courts, media, and the thousands of scorned victims. This is his story. This is his pathology. This is the face of the today’s enemy – corporate negligence, corruption, scam and fraud and we the American people are the intended victims. So stand up and tell these so-called authorities that we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it.

This is the 2009 terrorist. This is, Bernard Madoff.

-Jonathan Kleier, 2009

He was an astonishing writer. The first time he presented his play in our workshop, his peers were floored by the power of his words and his dramatic imagination. He wrote very raw drama, focused mostly on a group of fraternity boys, and his observation of them was exacting and precise. His honesty was incredible and savage; he observed and wrote about his generation with a special grace, but he never shied away from the uncomfortable parts of his world, the constant partying, the emphasis on appearance, the sometimes unfriendly interplay between young men and women. There was great strength in Jonathan the writer, and he showed it from that first moment in front of the workshop. He held the attention of the class like no one else, and he left us breathless that first day.

I will never forget it.

Jim Grimsley

Emory Creative Writing Professor

He was indeed an incredible observer of his generation- and absolutely had a Larry David-like precision for diving into the comedy and absurdities of the world- in a younger version than we have really seen on TV. Really incisive, in a way that made me, as his boss and "elder sister-like stand-in" giggle at his portrayals of college life. But like his professor, I knew right away that this was a real voice and he had something to offer, something new.

Maria Zuckerman

Vice President, HBO Films.