Festa's essays have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Daily Beast, Nerve, Salon, and anthologies.
[1] His first film Apparition of the Eternal Church (2006, 51 minutes) captures the responses of 31 artists and writers—including literary critic Harold Bloom, filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell, Scissor Sisters singer Ana Matronic, novelist Daniel Handler (a.k.a.
Festa stars in his second film, The Glitter Emergency (2010, 20 minutes) with members of the San Francisco Ballet and the Cockettes, opposite the Trannyshack performer Peggy L'Eggs (Matthew Simmons).
The film features director Oskar Eustis and actors Robin Williams, Bill Irwin, and Peter Coyote, and is narrated by comedian Marga Gomez.
Fourteen years after a repetitive strain injury curtailed his musical career, Festa resumed public performances in 2007 as both violinist and actor with the Stephen Pelton Dance Theater in San Francisco, and the North Bay Shakespeare Company in Novato, California.