TODAY at NewFest: The Documentaries

NewFest 2010 begins today (Friday) with the award-winning documentary programming you’ve come to expect from New York’s cutting edge LGBT film festival with Switch: A Community in Transition. Activist, filmmaker and trans man Brooks Nelson not only helms this exploration of gender transition, but steps in front of the camera to document the impact of his own gender transition on those around him. With equal doses of subtlety, humanity and humor, Nelson’s first-person account helps us understand not only what it means – but also what it feels – to experience the transition of a loved one.

Switch is presented on a double-bill with Nobody Passes Perfectly, a mid-length documentary from director Saskia Bisp. In Danish with English subtitles, it’s another open-minded and emotionally profound film about gender. You’ll meet Tomka, in his early thirties and living with his girlfriend while transitioning, and the middle-aged Erik, who is finally experiencing life on his own terms. The double-feature begins at 3:30PM.

It’s a cruel reality that members of the generation who made so many important strides for LGBT rights are increasingly being forced back into the closet in their twilight years, shunned by the very relatives and health care workers they rely upon for support. Stu Maddux takes us behind the scenes in retirement homes and health care centers across the country in Gen Silent – his up-close and personal study of a group of diverse seniors who are anything but silent. Co-Sponsored by SAGE, the national social service and advocacy organization dedicated to LGBT senior citizens, the documentary focuses the spotlight on the brave elders who dare to take a stand and fight back against the current system. (6PM)

Following at 8PM is Beautiful Darling, the freshman documentary from “off-off Broadway” theater director James Rasin. The poignant, well-researched new bio-pic tells the story of transsexual performer Candy Darling, her all-consuming quest for fame and celebrity, and her ultimate estrangement from Andy Warhol, the man who introduced her to the world. You’ll come for the story, but you’ll stay for the original interviews with such luminaries as John Waters, Holly Woodlawn, Jayne County, Penny Arcade, Gerard Malanga, Taylor Mead… and for the live question and answer session with the director immediately following the screening. Co-Sponsored by IFP.

NewFest rounds out the complement of Friday documentary programming with a presentation of Markku Heikinnen’s All Boys. In stark contrast to the slick, sun-drenched Eastern European-produced gay pornography associated with the famous Bel Ami Studios is the edgier work of controversial Dan Komar, in the Czech Republic. All Boys is a raw, no-holds-barred journey into Komar’s world, the young models with whom he lives, and the impact of his ‘bareback’ sex films on the Prague-based gay porn industry. The sexy, provocative, and disturbing film was produced in Finland, but is presented in English. Midnight.

Tickets are still available for all shows, and can be purchased by clicking the Buy Tickets link at the top of this page.