Alan Klingenstein

Alan has enjoyed an eclectic career, first as a business attorney, then an investment banker and finally as an independent film producer and distributor.

After leaving college for two years — one to race and sell skis in Colorado and another to serve as a researcher and speech writer for U.S. Senator Charles H. Percy in Washington — Al graduated with a B.A. in History from Princeton in 1978 and then earned his law and MBA degrees simultaneously from Cornell in 1982.

Following his graduation, he worked in San Francisco as a corporate and securities lawyer, first with the firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, then as General Counsel & Head of Acquisitions at the global fast food franchisor, Shakey’s International. In 1989 he returned to New York where he worked for five years as an investment banker in the Real Estate Capital Markets Group at Bankers Trust Company where he helped complete a number of high-profile assignments, including the purchase of hundreds of millions of dollars of distressed commercial mortgages for the bank’s own account. He accepted a two-year posting to London to start the group’s new European office. While there, he helped execute a $1.8 billion structured real estate financing deal, the largest completed in Europe to that time.

Looking for a change, Al left the financial world in 1994 and started Filbert Steps Productions where, with a friend and financial partner, he produced all of the company’s films and succeeded in selling them to world class entertainment outlets like Bravo, Lifetime, Lions Gate, Lorber Films and The Samuel Goldwyn Company. His films have won numerous awards, including the Audience Award at the 2000 Sundance Film festival for TWO FAMILY HOUSE, Best Dramatic Feature at the 2005 Austin Film Festival for RUNAWAY and a special 100th anniversary National Board of Review award in 2009 for TRUMBO. In addition, the company entered selections to top tier international festivals including Cannes, Toronto, Deauville, London, San Sebastian and Rio de Janeiro.