Steven Feinberg
Executive Director
R.I. Film and Television Office
(401) 222-3456
Steven.Feinberg@arts.ri.gov
Steven Feinberg is the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office. Born and raised in beautiful Cranston, RI, Steven graduated Cranston High School West (1981), then spent 22 years in Los Angeles, studied cinematography at UCLA and film and television production at the prestigious USC Cinema School. He worked with every major Hollywood studio as a writer, director and producer and officially joined the Writer’s Guild of America in 1987. His internationally successful Village Roadshow studios feature film FORTRESS was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Movie in 1994. This resulted in a sequel financed and distributed by Columbia/Tri Star Studios.
Since 2004, in his capacity at the RI Film & TV Office, Steven shepherded over $900 million of film and television production into the state, creating thousands of jobs for local talent, crew, small businesses and providing opportunities for students. His collaborations include working with notable talents such as Academy and Emmy award-winning writer/director, James L. Brooks, Lord Julian Fellowes, Wes Anderson, Mark Ruffalo, Bette Midler, Richard Gere and Zoe Saldana. Productions include the HBO’s Emmy award-winning series “The Gilded Age”, Disney’s record-breaking “Hocus Pocus 2”, Oscar nominated “Moonrise Kingdom”, and three seasons of the Peabody award winning Showtime series “Brotherhood”.
Among the many awards Steven has received, he was the first Annual Imaginnaire Award winner from New England’s Imagine Magazine, was designated a “Newport Ambassador” by Discover Newport Tourism, has been the Honorary Chairman for Rhode Island's official Academy Award Oscar Night from 2009 to the present, served as the Vice President on the Board of Directors for “Celebrate Rhode Island” in 2010 to assist families with heating, is a member of the Touro Fraternity, was designated the “Rhode Island Hospitality Ambassador of the Year 2010” by the Ocean State’s Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, received the George M. Cohan Ambassador Award from the Rhode Island International Film Festival in 2011 and is the Vice-President of the Greenwich Odeum Board.
In 2016, Steven wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary, PELL, which explores the challenges RI Senator Claiborne Pell faced to create the “Pell Grant” program and its impact on education and society today. Sponsored by the Lumina Foundation and the Rhode Island Council on the Humanities, PELL premiered at the RI International Film Festival and won the distinguished Providence Film Festival Award for “a New England director whose work brings cinematic excellence to an international audience”. The film also won Best Documentary awards from the Los Angeles Film Festival and Willliamsburg Independent Film Festival. The documentary had a special screening for Congress in Washington, DC and in February 2022 was viewed by various dignitaries in celebration of the 50-year anniversary of Pell Grants.
For eight seasons, Steven has been a producer and co-host of the RIPBS weekly series “DOUBLE FEATURE” which explores the art of cinema by sharing short films from around the world as well as unique interviews with a diversity of moviemakers both locally and internationally respected.
In addition to his full-time responsibilities as the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office, Steven Feinberg was voted by the board of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts to assume the important position of interim Executive Director of RISCA, beginning December 18, 2021 until July 1, 2022.
In 2022, the Rhode Island International Film Festival honored Mr. Feinberg with the legendary Sam Spiegel Producer award, and the daily digital publication, GOLOCALPROV.com named Steven Feinberg as one of 22 of the Most Influential Rhode Islanders in 2022.
On June 8, 2023, the Preservation Society of Newport County honored Mr. Feinberg with the annual Laurel Artisanship Award for distinguished and artistic service to the iconic Newport Mansions and State of Rhode Island.
This past January 16, 2024, during his annual State of the State televised address, Governor Daniel J. McKee publicly recognized Steven Feinberg and his work at the Rhode Island Film and Television Office as one of the positive highlights that the Ocean State’s citizens should be proud of.
In May 2024, Steven was elected into his hometown’s Cranston Hall of Fame. On May 23, 2024, Mr. Feinberg was unanimously elected into the venerable Rhode Island Historical Hall of Fame.
Steven is also an avid horseman.
