NewFest in the New Year
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Ahead of the curve – if you were at NewFest last July, you’ve got bragging rights, because you had the chance to see Weekend, the most talked about gay film of the year, months before it opened in New York. As well as Circumstance, Gun Hill Road, Tomboy, Weekend and We Were Here long before they were on local movie screens in town.
You had the chance to see the world premiere of One Night Stand - a documentary about a host of Broadway’s finest talent preparing to compete to write and perform a new musical in 24 hours. And you had a chance to hang out with them after the screening at one of our many after show parties.
Yes, NewFest this year saw some amazing films. And some amazing changes too: We opened and closed at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
All this happened because of your support.
Because of your support we were able to provide free tickets to hundreds of LGBT youth through local support organizations. Because of your support we were able to help independent filmmakers reach an audience for stories that might not be seen otherwise.
And we have great plans for next year. But to realize them, we need your help now.
Yes – it’s the annual end of year appeal letter. And we know your mailbox is filled with requests for financial support. So please consider this – in this tight economy corporate support for NewFest has dropped. And more than ever it is your member support that guarantees that New York’s premier LGBT film festival takes place.
Most of the people who help bring NewFest to life are volunteers. Our costs have been cut to the bone. What enables us to continue to bring you the most interesting film out there is the membership and donations that come from our community.
So follow our link to our SUPPORT page at http://newfest.org/wordpress/2011-newfest-donation/.
Your donation is tax deductible. And happiness increasable.
Thanks and Happy New Year.
NewFest Board of Directors
Visit The NewFest Flickr Feed
Check out this year’s portraits by NewFest’s photographer in residence, Scott Pasfield, by visiting our Flickr feed! You can get there by clicking here, or through the front page of NewFest.org.
While you’re there, have a look at photos from various events at our festival, featuring the work of photographers Jonathan Tichler, Bob Miranti, and Dave Pittock.
2011 NewFest Awards
NewFest proudly honors the winners of the 2011 NewFest Awards. All were presented last night at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, during the festival’s annual Closing Night ceremony.
“With first-rate films at venues across our great city, the 23rd Annual NewFest was a huge success,” said NewFest Director of Programming Bryce J. Renninger. “We are pleased to screen and reward so many great films that are pushing the boundaries of filmmaking and representing queer identities and issues in new and provocative ways.”
JURY AWARDS
NARRATIVE FEATURES
BEST FILM
Circumstance, director: Maryam Keshavarz
BEST PERFORMANCE
Zoe Heran, Tomboy
HONORABLE MENTION
Bélgica Castro, Old Cats
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
BEST FILM
Gone, Directors: John and Gretchen Morning
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Habana Muda, Director: Eric Brach
SHORT FILM
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Smut Capital of America, Director: Michael Stabile
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
Fourplay: San Francisco, Director: Kyle Henry
HONORABLE MENTION
Oh My God!, Director: Anne Sewitsky
NEWDRAFT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
Boys in the Trees, Screenwriter: Nicholas Verso
July Flame, Screenwriter: Anton De Ionno
AUDIENCE AWARDS
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE (tie)
The Wise Kids, Director: Stephen Cone
Turtle Hill, Brooklyn, Director: Ryan Gielen
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
One Night Stand, Directors: Elisabeth Sperling & Trish Dalton
BEST SHORT FILM
The Devotion Project: More Than Ever, Director: Tony Osso
Our CLOSING NIGHT Film: Gun Hill Road
Playing TONIGHT, Closing Night at NewFest, 7PM. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “a sophisticated intimate twist on a father-son drama”, Gun Hill Road is Rashaad Ernesto Green’s first feature film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Set in the Bronx, Gun Hill Road follows Enrique (Esai Morales of La Bamba, NYPD Blue), a macho ex-convict returning home from a three-year prison sentence, who slowly learns that his son Michael (Harmony Santana, at left) is transitioning into Vanessa, a woman. Unable to accept his child, Enrique clings to his masculine ideals, while his wife Angela (Judy Reyes from Scrubs) fiercely tries to hold her family together by protecting Michael.
A transsexual female on-screen and in real life, newcomer Harmony Santana gives a fearless and authentic performance that will stay with you long after you’ve left the theater. When asked about casting for the role, Green says, “I knew from the start I wanted to cast the role non-traditionally, i.e. outside of the normal means of finding talent through an agent or casting director. In order for the film to be successful, I needed to find the genuine article.”
“The search was absolutely grueling. I pulled my hair out for weeks and kicked myself for writing myself into a hole. We stumbled in and out of 18-and-over nightclubs at 3am, attended every youth organization and function you can think of,” says Green. ”Eventually, we found Harmony. Newcomer Harmony Santana was working at a parade booth in Queens. She was the right age and type, showed up on time to the audition, had that special something I had been looking for, and was dedicated to learning the craft of acting.”
Drawing on scenes and struggles from her own life, Santana takes us into Vanessa’s pre-date routine and the challenges she faces in an effort to present herself as she feels inside. Don’t miss this moving portrayal of a transsexual teen that will move and inspire you. Playing Thursday, July 28 at 7:00PM, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. Click here for tickets to the event, which includes an Awards Ceremony and Closing Night afterparty.
Wednesday: We’re at TWO Great Locations
Welcome to day seven of NewFest 2011, where we continue to bring you the best of LGBT filmmaking at not one, but two great locations around the city! We’re rolling out the red carpet for you today at Cinema Village (12th Street at University in Manhattan) and BAM Rose Cinemas (in Brooklyn) with these great movies:
Playing TODAY at BAM
Hit So Hard follows the journey of Patty Schemel (pictured at left,) the openly gay drummer of Courtney Love’s seminal rock band Hole. A true survivor of what we now know was the disaffected “slacker” generation, Patty found herself, like her friend Kurt Cobain, embraced by the dark side. Directed by P. David Ebersole. Playing at 6:30PM BAM Rose Cinemas.
Later, we present the latest directorial effort from Pedro Peirano and Sebastián Silva (pictured above), Old Cats. It’s the story of Isidora, an old woman who realizes that her mind is quickly deteriorating… and that her scheming lesbian daughter is jumping at the chance to take way everything she has. You may already be familiar with Silva and Peirano’s work in The Maid, which earned the directors a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the 2009 Golden Globe Awards. Playing at 9:30PM, BAM Rose Cinemas.
Playing TODAY at Cinema Village
What’s the Name of the Dame. Hilarious drag queens you know and love (Hedda Lettuce, Edie, and many others) perform their own interpretations of ABBA’s greatest hits. Directed by Allan Neuwirth. Playing at 3PM, Cinema Village.
One Night Stand. Broadway superstars Cheyenne Jackson,Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Richard Kind, Mandy Gonzalez, Tracie Thoms, and Nellie McKay write and produce a short musical in just 24 hours! A surprisingly intimate journey from the blank page to the stage, directed by Trish Dalton and Elisabeth Sperling. Playing at 3PM, Cinema Village.
School’s Out. In these eight clever short films, LGBT youth encounter coming out, falling for friends, and just growing up. Playing at 5PM, Cinema Village.
Reel Queers. Why is it always the case that the truth is often just as unbelievable as fiction? See eight fascinating documentary shorts presenting LGBT life in a sexy Scandinavian bathhouse, at the Black Party, at a UK church group, and at Annapolis. Playing at 5:30PM, Cinema Village.
Gone. A mother’s courageous mission to find her adult gay son, missing since taking a trip abroad to Vienna. But do the authorities to whom she pleads for information know more than they’re letting on to? Directed by Gretchen and John Morning. Playing 7:30PM, Cinema Village.
eCupid. Directed by JC Calciano. Newly single and ready for adventure, Marshall finds himself overwhelmed by interested sexy men. But as he quickly discovers, too much of a good thing may not be such a good thing. Co-starring Morgan Fairchild. Playing at 7:30PM, Cinema Village.
Blackmail Boys (pictured below.) Bernard and Richard Shumanski’s sweet and sexually explicit love story becomes an extortion tale for two young men who plot to blackmail a closeted religious figure. Playing tonight at 9:30PM, Cinema Village.
Click here for our entire lineup.
TUESDAY at NewFest
While our regular programming continues today at Cinema Village, we’re also at two other locations around the city: the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, and the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.
Playing first at our satellite locations is Paul Goodman Changed My Life, directed by Jonathan Lee, screening at 6:30PM at JCC Manhattan. Get your tickets here. Also playing tonight: The Queen Has No Crown, directed by Tomer Heymann (pictured right.) Reserve your seats now for the JCC Manhattan, 9PM showing. All ticket holders to these films are welcome to join us from 8-9PM for a special reception, with open bar courtesy of Stella Artois Beer and 42Below.
Narrative film more your thing? Then head over to Queens, when NewFest takes over the big screen at the Museum of the Moving Image. There, acclaimed filmmaker Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run,Perfume) returns with an unconventional take on a modern love triangle in 3. Playing at 7PM, Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.
ENCORE SCREENINGS ADDED
Unable to get tickets to some of the movies in our program? You asked, we listened. By popular demand, NewFest is adding several additional screenings to our lineup:
Today: We Were Here. David Weissman’s documentary portrait of 1980s San Francisco, as five men and women (who were there) recall the events and challenges of the early days of the AIDS crisis. Click here for tickets to the encore screening at 3PM, Cinema Village.
WEDNESDAY: What’s the Name of the Dame. Hilarious drag queens you know and love (Hedda Lettuce, Edie, and many others) perform their own interpretations of ABBA’s greatest hits. Directed by Allan Neuwirth. Playing tomorrow at 3PM, Cinema Village.
One Night Stand. Broadway superstars Cheyenne Jackson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Richard Kind, Mandy Gonzalez, Tracie Thoms, and Nellie McKay write and produce a short musical in just 24 hours! Directed by Trish Dalton and Elisabeth Sperling. Playing tomorrow at 3PM, Cinema Village.
THURSDAY: TOMBOY. Directed by Celine Sciamma. Laure, a 10-year-old tomboy, finds it so hard to adjust to her new surroundings, she reinvents herself as Michael, a boy… with surprising results.Playing Thursday at 4PM, Cinema Village.
(A)sexual. Learn more about David Jay (pictured at the top of this page) and his organization of self-described asexuals, and watch as they try to explain their way of life to others in one of the most sexualized cities in North America – San Francisco. Playing Thursday, 6PM at Cinema Village. Co-sponsored by IFP.
Turtle Hill Brooklyn. In honor of Will’s 30th birthday, he and his partner invite their closest friends to a casual backyard get-together… but surprise visitors threaten to derail the plans (and their relationship.) Directed by Ryan Gielen. Playing Thursday at 6:15PM, Cinema Village.
’3,’ From ‘Run Lola Run’ Director Tom Tykwer
In 3, director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) gives us a love triangle that’s not quite like anything we’ve seen before. Forget the French ménage a trios, this couple becomes a “thruple.”
Hanna (Sophie Rois) and Simon (Sebastian Schipper) are lovers who have been together for 20 years. Their lives run their course like two parallel lines that stretch across the years. They fit together well, but increasingly grow disconnected from each other.
Separately, they meet sexy, blonde scientist Adam (Devid Striesow) and each begins an affair with him – neither Hanna nor Simon know that the other is cheating, much less with the same person, and Adam doesn’t know that his two lovers even know each other, much less involved.
While Tykwer isn’t afraid to examine the farcical possibilities, he’s more interested in the life that Adam injects into Hanna and Simon’s coupling – as well as the possibility that these three people together make a stronger relationship than any two of them do.
It’s a perfect summer movie to see with your boyfriend…and your other boyfriend. Playing Tonight at 7PM, Museum of the Moving Image.
Tonight at HARLEM STAGE
It’s Monday at NewFest, where our exciting 2011 lineup continues at Cinema Village, a favorite venue of New York City film lovers. But if you thought that was the only place to catch great movies at our festival, you’re quite literally missing the picture. Join us at these other locations around the five boroughs this week:
MONDAY: Harlem Stage
Can’t make it to the Harlem Stage event? Check out our Wednesday screening of Leave It On The Floor at Cinema Village, beginning at 9:30PM. On hand to host the Q&A session afterwards will be Jennie Livingston, director of the landmark drag ball documentary Paris is Burning. TUESDAY: JCC Manhattan, Museum of the Moving Image in Queens
WEDNESDAY: BAM Rose Cinemas, Brooklyn
Later, we present Old Cats, the latest directorial effort from Pedro Peirano and Sebastián Silva (pictured below, The Maid.) It’s the story of Isidora, an old woman who realizes that her mind is quickly deteriorating… and that her scheming daughter is jumping at the chance to take way everything she has. Playing Wednesday, July 27 at 9:30PM, BAM Rose Cinemas.
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Tonight, Glee meets Paris is Burning in the groundbreaking new film Leave It On The Floor, directed by Sheldon Larry. The party starts at 6PM at Harlem Stage, located at The Gatehouse, on 150 Convent Avenue (on the south side of the CUNY campus) when NewFest honors Sheldon Larry with a complimentary open bar. The movie begins at 7:30PM, when we’ll also be screening the short film That’s Entertainment, featuring Kalup Linzy and James Franco. After the feature, you’ll want to stick around for a live Q&A featuring screenwriter Glenn Gaylord and director Larry, along with cast members Ephraim Sykes and Philip Evelyn. 
Uptown’s Jewish Community Center is the place to be Tuesday night for two great documentaries at NewFest. First up is Paul Goodman Changed My Life, directed by Jonathan Lee, playing at 6:30PM. 
Narrative film more your thing? Then head over to Queens, when NewFest takes over the big screen at the Museum of the Moving Image. There, acclaimed filmmaker Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run,Perfume) returns with an unconventional take on a modern love triangle in 3. 
Head to Brooklyn Wednesday for two great films from NewFest. Hit So
Broadway Comes to NewFest
Calling all Broadway babies, showtune lovers, stage door Johnnies and theater queens. The performers you’re used to seeing just behind the footlights of the stage are coming to the silver screens of NewFest! In our Sunday Salute to Broadway, every seat in the house has a front row, center orchestra view.
First, join for a Sunday matinee. In Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, you’ll fall in love all over again with this legendary lady of Broadway. Hear the stories behind Carol’s best-known roles… including bombshell Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! and eccentric flapper widow Muzzy Van Hossmere in Thoroughly Modern Millie (the big screen role that landed her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.) But director Dori Berinstein doesn’t stop there. You’ll also learn the unbelievable untold story of Channing’s late-in-life love affair and other untold tidbits from her decades on the stage. Get your tickets now before this parade passes you by. Playing Sunday, July 24 at 2PM, SVA Theatre.
We’re just getting started. Hang around, and you’ll also see hunky Broadway leading man Cheyenne Jackson in not one, but two great new films. First up is Steven Williford’s The Green. Here Cheyenne joins fellow Broadway headliner Jason Butler Harner in the story of a gay couple leaving The Big Apple for small-town life in Connecticut… only to face cruel and untrue accusations that threaten to pull their lives apart. The top-notch cast also features Julia Ormond, Bill Sage, Karen Young and Illeana Douglas. Playing tonight at 6PM at the SVA Theatre, and again on Tuesday, July 26 at Cinema Village.
Singing and dancing more your style? There’s plenty of that and more in Elisabeth Sperling and Trish Dalton’s One Night Stand. Twenty-four hours to write and produce a short musical… and the pressure is ON. Will our team be able to pull it off? No need to worry when you’ve got the megawatt talent of Cheyenne Jackson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson,Richard Kind, Mandy Gonzalez, Tracie Thoms, Nellie McKay, and Rachel Dratch in front of the cameras. Playing Sunday at 8:15PM, SVA Theatre.
Other highlights from our Sunday program include:
Weekend. Our Centerpiece Film, Directed by Andrew Haigh. Ticket price includes admission to Centerpiece After Party at Chelsea Art Museum, 556 W.22nd St at Eleventh Ave. Playing tonight at 8PM, SVA Theatre in Chelsea. Generously co-sponsored by our friends at Gayletter.com.
Gone. Directed by Gretchen and John Morning. Documentary. A mother (and former police officer) encounters a series of red herrings and dead ends as she searches for her missing son in Austria. Playing today at 12:30PM, Cinema Village; and again on Wednesday, July 25 at 7:30PM.
Our Lips Are Sealed. Directed by John Gallino. Playing 12:30PM, Cinema Village.
eCupid. Directed by JC Calciano. Playing today at 1:30PM, SVA Theatre; and Wednesday, July 27 at 7:30PM, Cinema Village.
My Last Round. Directed by Julio Jorquera. Screening at 2PM, Cinema Village.
2 Frogs in the West. Directed by Dany Papineau. A young French-Canadian woman leaves her family behind for the West Coast, but when tragedy strikes, she’s forced to make the biggest decisions of her life. Playing 2:30PM, Cinema Village.
Shut Up, Little Man! An Audio Misadventure. Directed by Matthew Bate. Plays 3PM, SVA Theatre.
Hooters! Directed by Anna Margarita Albelo. Playing 4PM, Cinema Village.
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. Directed by Madeleine Olnek. Playing Sunday, July 24 at 4PM, SVA Theatre.
Turtle Hill, Brooklyn. Directed by Ryan Gielen. Playing today at 5PM, and on Tuesday at 10PM. Both shows at Cinema Village.
Eating Out: Drama Camp. Directed by Q. Allan Brocka. Playing Sunday, July 24 at 6PM; and Thursday, July 28 at 4PM . Cinema Village.
For more information about the many other fine films playing today at NewFest, visit our Film Guide.
Award Winners Headed to NewFest
At NewFest, we’re big admirers and fans of Southern California’s largest Gay and Lesbian film festival, Outfest, which recently concluded its annual program in Los Angeles. We’re especially excited to be able to bring New York City audiences several of the films sweeping up numerous awards this week at Outfest.
Our warm congratulations go out to the following Outfest winners, whose films you’ll see this in the days ahead at NewFest. (Descriptions of the awards were provided to us by the judges at Outfest.)
Outfest Jury prizes:
Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature Film: Habana Muda, Directed by Eric Brach. Playing NewFest Friday, July 22 at 6:30PM, Cinema Village.
(Pictured at left) This year’s winning documentary is a beautifully crafted narrative that reveals multiple worlds and gives us access to intimate moments and complex relationships. It’s a very personal story that rises above the issues it explores, and entertains us in every moment.
Grand Jury Award for Outstanding International Dramatic Feature Film: Weekend, Directed by Andrew Haigh. NewFest’s Centerpiece Film. Playing Sunday, July 24 at 8PM, SVA Theatre in Chelsea.
This year’s winning international dramatic feature film is a touching, authentic portrayal of gay life as we truly experience it: not stylized, not glamorized, but heartfelt, perceptive and absorbingly real. From the first frame it manages to get beneath the artifice we are used to. In its own quiet, unflinching way it leaves you a little bit changed, and yet more yourself than you ever were.
Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film: Nikohl Boosheri, Circumstance. Playing NewFest Saturday, July 23 at 3PM, SVA Theatre; and Monday, July 25 at 3PM, Cinema Village.
(Pictured left.)For her fierce and sensual portrayal of a young woman struggling to balance the tumultuous landscape of her sexuality in a world in flux around her.
Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Screenwriting: Stephen Cone, The Wise Kids; Grand Jury Award for Outstanding U.S. Dramatic Feature Film: The Wise Kids, Directed by Stephen Cone. Playing NewFest Saturday, July 23 at 3PM, Cinema Village.
We were very moved by this film not only as a love letter to the community it depicts but as a universal portrayal of characters both coming of age and coming of middle age. We also believe this film represents American independent cinema at its best and marks the discovery of a filmmaker with a compelling cinematic voice.
Outfest Audience prizes:
Audience Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature Film: We Were Here, Directed by David Weissman & Bill Weber. Part of NewFest’s Opening Night presentation. Playing Thursday, July 21 at 7PM, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.
Audience Award for Outstanding Dramatic Feature Film: 3, Directed by Tom Tykwer. Playing NewFest Tuesday, July 26 at 7PM, Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.
Audience Award for Outstanding First U.S. Dramatic Feature Film: Circumstance, Directed by Maryam Keshavarz. Playing NewFest Saturday, July 23 at 3PM, SVA Theatre; and Monday, July 25 at 3PM, Cinema Village.
Outfest Special Programming Awards:
Special Programming Award for Artistic Achievement: The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, Directed by Marie Losier. Playing NewFest Sunday, July 24 at 10:30PM, SVA Theatre.
For matching the conceptual daring and aesthetic bravado of its subjects’ lives with an equally powerful filmmaking style and for never losing sight of the love story that flourished in an atmosphere of gender experimentation and conceptual music.
Special Programming Award for Emerging Talent: Madeleine Olnek, Writer/Director, Co-dependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. Playing NewFest Sunday, July 24 at 4PM, SVA Theatre.
For her witty and creative vision, her skill at eliciting memorable performances, for deftly blending old school science fiction and deadpan comedy, and for believing that true love exists even if it means going to another planet to find it.
As always, for more information on these and other films, please consult the Film Guide listings on this website.
Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
Playing TONIGHT at 10:30PM, SVA Theatre. It’s a common cliché that, the longer a couple stays together in a relationship, the more each partner starts to resemble the other. But to what lengths would two people go to take things to the next step, to surgically alter their facial features, to physically and literally look like one another? In The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, ground-breaking performance artist and music pioneer Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and his partner-collaborator, Lady Jaye, do exactly that — in a series of daring sexual transformations they called their “Pandrogyne” project.
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge has been a key figure of the underground music scene for over 30 years. A cult artist in prepunk and post-punk groups Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, he is considered to be the father of industrial music and a pioneer of acid house and techno. Not content with breaking new ground in music, Genesis has also used his position at the limits of society to challenge the very fundamentals of biology, as he does here with Lady Jaye (now deceased) as his muse and collaborator, documented over a period of seven years by director Marie Losier.
A native of France, The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye isn’t Losier’s first film portrait of avant-garde artists. Her previous subjects include filmmakers Guy Maddin and The Kuchar brothers, and theater director Richard Foreman, in works described by as whimsical, poetic, dreamlike and unconventional. She lives and works in New York, and has been the film curator at the French Institute Alliance Française since 2000. Genesis and Lady Jaye plays TONIGHT at 10:30PM, at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea. You’ll also enjoy a special screening of Jonathan Couette’s (Tarnation) short film All Flowers in Time, starring Chloe Sevigny, immediately before the feature. Click here for tickets and more information.
Coming-of-Age in Small Town Texas
Mangus! Makes Its NewFest Premiere
Join NewFest on a trip to River City, Texas, where Mangus Spedgwick’s lifelong dream to star in the school musical, Jesus Christ Spectacular, ends in a freak accident. Mangus takes it all in stride… that is, until an archnemesis and queeny classmate steps into the role that is rightfully his.
Starring Ryan Boggus as Mangus, Jennifer Coolidge (American Pie 2, Best in Show), Deborah Theaker, John Waters, and Heather Matarazzo in a hilarious star turn as Jessica Simpson. Mangus! is directed by Ash Christian (pictured above.)
Says DallasFilm.org:
Texas-born writer, director and actor Ash Christian, says the movie was inspired by his own adolescent years of growing up in and being involved in the local theater productions. “I grew up in Paris, Texas, as a community-theater kid, and always wanting the lead role,” says Christian, “So I took a lot of those elements and put them into the film.” The film is based in the fictional town of River City, Texas, and the cast and crew worked out of Dallas, while filming in Waxahachie.
According to Christian, this Napoleon Dynamite-esque film, which he describes as “outrageous with a lot of heart,” was also inspired by the work of his idol and cult filmmaker, John Waters, best known for the films HAIRSPRAY and PINK FLAMINGOS, who makes a cameo in the film.
Christian moved to LA when he was 17, and after working in acting for a few years, decided to break into writing and directing on his own, in order to write the kinds of parts he wanted to play but wasn’t necessarily being given at the time. His writing and directing debut, FAT GIRLS, which he also starred in, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to rave reviews in 2006 and later opened in theaters nationwide. After that, he was hooked, “I got the bug,” says Christian, and so began the planning for this second full-length feature.
“All of the cast is really fun and cool to work with,” says Christian. This cast includes Jennifer Coolidge (Stifler’s mom in AMERICAN PIE); veteran actress Heather Matarazzo, best known for her roll in WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE, who plays a character named Jessica Simpson in the film, and is the polar opposite of the Texas singer and actress. Leslie Jordon from Will and Grace, plays the hilarious local theater teacher, and Deborah Theaker from WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, stars as Mangus’s evil stepmother.
Christian says the hardest part of being an independent filmmaker is raising the money. “There’s such a risk,” says Christian. For these filmmakers, it’s all about finding people who are willing to take that risk, and to believe in the filmmaker and their voice. “Ultimately,” says Christian, “you just have to embrace it and use it as an aesthetic, so that’s what I try to do, to use it as an aesthetic.”
Playing TONIGHT at 10PM, Cinema Village.
Dirty Girls, Perfect Families, Broadway Babes
SATURDAY Screenings at NewFest
Dirty Girl. Director Abe Sylvia’s scandalous debut road movie. Join Danielle (rising star Juno Temple, pictured) and a gay buddy as they leave behind the dusty flatlands of Oklahoma for greener pastures. Leaving behind the small town, the friends realize more than a fake baby and a stolen Cadillac could ever teach them. But will they ever make it to California? Includes hilarious star turns from Hollywood luminaries Milla Jovovich (Ultra Violet, Resident Evil), Mary Steenbergen, William H. Macy, and Dwight Yoakum. Playing 10PM at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea.
Circumstance. Director Maryam Keshavarz’s innovative coming-of-age story set in the underground art scene of Tehran. A teenager and her best friend find themselves the victim of a family member’s dangerous obsession. Winner of the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Playing today at 3PM, SVA Theatre; and Monday July 25 at 3PM, Cinema Village.
A Perfect Family. Directed by Anne Renton. Kathleen Turner plays Eileen Cleary, a devoutly Catholic mother with some serious family issues, in this star-studded comedy. When Monsignor Murphy (Richard Chamberlain) informs Eileen she’s been nominated for Catholic Woman of the Year, Eileen will stop at nothing to make her family appear perfect. Playing today at 5:30, SVA Theatre.
Kill The Habit. When drug-abusing Galia kills her two-timing drug dealer, Lyle, she calls on her best friend to help. All they need to do now is dump the body, deal with Galia’s drug habit and cover their tracks. What could go wrong? (Hint: Plenty.) Directed by Laura Neri. Playing tonight at 10PM, SVA Theatre; Monday, July 25 at 7PM.
The Tents. Go behind-the-scenes look at New York fashion week in in James Belzer’s exciting new documentary. Featuring Isaac Mizrahi, Donna Karan, Hal Rubenstein, Nina Garcia,Phillip Bloch, Betsey Johnson, and more. Playing today at 6PM, SVA Theatre.
Then on Sunday… Broadway comes to 23rd Street in Chelsea when NewFest salutes the Great White Way with three great films:
We start with one of the reigning queens of American musical theater. In Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, Dori Berinstein presents the unbelievable untold story of Channing’s late-in-life love story and gives all the juicy tidbits from her decades on the stage. Playing Sunday, July 24 at 2PM, SVA Theatre.
Stick around, and you’ll also see hunky Broadway leading man Cheyenne Jackson in not one, but two great new films: Steven Williford’s The Green (click here for more info about the Sunday, 6PM and Tuesday, July 26 screenings) and in Elisabeth Sperling & Trish Dalton’s One Night Stand (playing Sunday at 8:15PM, SVA Theatre.)
As always, for more information about these and other movies, visit our Film Guide.
Saturday Shorts at NewFest
Where else but a film festival can you see dozens of short films all in one place? Today NewFest presents not one, but four collections of shorts from these up-and-coming directors. Click any link for tickets and showtimes, or for more information.
LOLz. We dare you not to laugh during this program of camp, slapstick, off-the-wall performances and sarcasm. Playing 1PM, SVA Theatre; repeat screening Tuesday, July 26 at 5:30PM, Cinema Village.
School’s Out. LGBT youth encounter coming out, falling for friends, and just growing up. Playing today at 2PM, and again on Wednesday, July 27. Both Screenings at Cinema Village.
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Tonight’s Sizzling Hot Lineup
Looking for relief from today’s 100 degree temperatures? You won’t find that at any of these sizzling hot Friday night films movies. Our theaters may be air conditioned, but these films guaranteed to steam up the cinema when they play NewFest TONIGHT. Consider yourselves warned.
August. Directed by Eldar Rapaport. Years after dumping Jonathan and moving to Spain, Troy returns to Los Angeles and tries to make amends, but nostalgia for their failed relationship hints that feelings may still be there. The only catch? Jonathan is now happily dating Raul, a gorgeous Argentinean immigrant who, unlike Troy, seems to have his life together. Eschewing the typical love triangle, the story instead delves into the men’s lives while exploring the way lives are dictated by choices playing out over time. Playing today at 5PM at SVA Theatre, in Chelsea; and Saturday at 7PM, Cinema Village. Co-sponsored by Cinemarosa.
In Their Room – Berlin. Directed by Travis Matthews. Shot over the course of just one day, Mathews documents the stunningly hot sex lives of several gay men in Berlin, “some coupled, some single, some hooking up.” Through conversations with friends, lovers and tricks, Mathews presents a surprising array of gay intimacy through his sexy Berlin subjects. Two shows at Cinema Village: Tonight at 10:30PM; and tomorrow at 10:15PM. Co-sponsored by The L Magazine.
Harvest. Directed by Benjamin Cantu. Marko is a reclusive agriculture student studying in the countryside, unsure of his future. Enter Jacob,l tension peaks with an encounter in a barn that causes Marko to distance himself from Jacob, until they’re reunited on an intimate trip to Berlin. Knowing their future is at stake, the boys are forced to make a life-changing decision. Playing tonight at 10PM, Cinema Village.
Advocate for Fagdom. Directed by Angelique Bosio. From “Hustler White” to “Raspberry Reich” and “LA Zombie” to “No Skin Off My Ass,” queercore filmmaker Bruce LaBruce has proven one of the most prolific and provocative contemporary queer filmmakers. From interviews with the legend himself and those who know him well, “The Advocate for Fagdom” explores the life of Canada’s answer to John Waters. Features interviews with Vaginal Davis, Gus Van Sant (“Milk”), John Waters (“Pink Flamingos”), and Harmony Korine (“Gummo”). Playing tonight at 8:30PM, Cinema Village.
Going Down in LA-LA Land. Directed by Casper Andreas. Adam (model Matthew Ludwinski) is a fresh-faced, optimistic Adonis hoping to make it big in LA. After a degrading first job, he lucks out and lands a gig in film production, but he soon finds himself sucked into the world of delusional starlets, closeted celebs, and gay porn stars! Will LA eat him alive? Adapted from Andy Zeffer”s acclaimed novel, and featuring cameos by Judy Tenuta, Alec Mapa, & Bruce Vilanch, Casper Andreas’ latest is a sexy trip to Hollywood’s dark side. Playing tonight at 10:30PM, SVA Theatre.
And then tomorrow… don’t miss…
The Seminarian. Directed by Joshua Lim. Ryan, a closeted gay seminarian, is working on a thesis dealing with love as a gift from God nearing the end of his studies. During this volatile time in his life, Ryan gets caught up in a troubled relationship with another man which, together with his struggles with friends and family, calls into doubt everything he has known about faith, hope and love. Playing tomorrow, Saturday July 23 at 11:30am, Cinema Village.
Country Legend Comes To NewFest
NewFest has always been a little bit of rock-and-roll, but this Friday night, we’re a little bit of country, too! Join us at 7:30PM TONIGHT at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea when country music superstar Chely Wright headlines our Centerpiece screening of Wish Me Away, the new biopic about Wright by award-winning directors Bobbi Birleffi and Beverly Kopf.
Be sure to stick around after the movie, too. Wright, along with the directors, will be on hand LIVE to answer your questions, in a discussion panel moderated by NewFest’s own Kimberly Reed. Your $25 ticket also admits you to a reception in SVA Theatre lobby immediately following the presentation. Click here to purchase tickets, or to get more information about this must-see event!
Four Don’t-Miss Friday Films
With so many great films to choose from, deciding which ones to see can be tricky. Here are just a few of the movies screeening TODAY at NewFest you won’t want to miss:
Tomboy. Director Celine Sciamma’s latest pairs a razor-sharp script with a cast of remarkably skilled adolescent actors for an engaging look at gender roles. Laure, a 10-year-old tomboy, finds it so hard to adjust to her new surroundings, she reinvents herself as a boy. Playing Friday, July 22 at 3PM; and Sunday, July 24 at 7PM. Both shows at Cinema Village.
Mary Marie. Directed by Alexandra Roxo. Two inseparable sisters, Mary and Marie, return to their childhood home following the death of their mother. By the end of summer, the sexual tension has come to a head, and the girls are forced to acknowledge their dangerous secret. Playing Friday, July 22 at 8PM, Cinema Village.
Heart Breaks Open. Directed by Billie Rain. Jesus may be a queer activist, but that doesn’t stop him from having unprotected sex and cheating on his boyfriend. When Jesus finds out he’s contracted HIV, he descends into madness until a self-styled drag nun forces him to imagine a better future. Playing Friday, July 22 at 6PM; and Monday, July 25 at 3PM. Both shows at Cinema Village.
Cho Dependent. Directed by Lorene Machado. America’s favorite bisexual funny lady, Margaret Cho, returns to the stage for her new standup routine. In between jabs at her “Dancing with the Stars” enemy Bristol Palin and doing her standard impression of her ever-so-lovable mother, we also see Cho sing a ditty from her new album of comedic songs and explain the unbelievable real-life story that inspired it. Playing Friday, July 22 at 5:30PM, SVA Theatre.
For more great movies on our Friday program, check out our Film Guide.
FREE Events at NewFest
Did you know NewFest offers a number of events, free of charge, every year as part of our festival? We present to you these free events: think of them as our way of saying ‘Thank You.”
Friday, July 22
I’m From Driftwood Presents. Directed by Marquise Lee. Playing at 3PM, Cinema Village.
New York’s own Nathan Manske has made it his job to cross the fifty states to find diverse stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and ally individuals — to document the queer American experience of the 21st century. Join us for this collection of some of the series’ highlights. All students and youth age 25 or younger will be admitted FREE to this screening. Screens with Gay In America with Scott Pasfield.
Marriage Equality: Byron Rushing and the Fight For Fairness. Directed by Thomas Allen Harris. Playing 5PM, Cinema Village.
In Thomas Allen Harris’ short film, Harris links the civil rights struggle to the contemporary struggle over gay marriage, focusing on Byron Rushing, the Massachussetts State Representative who sponsored the state’s gay rights bill. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director.
A Conversation with Christine Vachon. Panel Discussion. Begins promptly at 5PM, Film Society of Lincoln Center.
NewFest is proud to present a talk with Vachon co-hosted with indiewire, happening in the Amphitheater in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center. This panel is free of charge, and no ticket is required; admission is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden
Lady Gaga pays homage to her New York City roots as her Monster Ball tour takes over the sold-out Madison Square Garden for a hedonistic celebration of dance-pop music. HBO taped the Wizard of Oz-influenced show with a pop-opera feel, where Gaga and friends get lost in NYC on their way to the Monster Ball. **THIS SCREENING IS NOW SOLD OUT**
Saturday, July 23
The Wise Kids. Directed by Stephen Cone. Playing 3PM, Cinema Village.
Three teens tackle their uncertain, post-high school futures head-on in this charming Southern coming-of-age drama. Brea is an introspective pastor”s daughter caught in serious doubt. Laura is her deeply religious best friend. Tim is the open-hearted gay boy struggling to find his place in the Bible Belt. Before the end of the summer, adults will behave like kids, secrets will be spilled, and promises will be broken, all in an effort to make amends with the past and break free to a better, happier future. All students and youth age 25 or younger will be admitted FREE to this screening.
Sunday, July 24
Our Lips Are Sealed. Directed by John Gallino. Playing 12:30PM, Cinema Village.
New Jersey college students Matty and Bobby, who aren’t a couple but are close friends, stage a kiss-in on their college campus. The two young men try their best to break the record for the world’s longest continuous kiss — and raise money for the Trevor Project while they’re at it. No sitting, no diapers, and no unlocking those lips, not even for a second! All students and youth age 25 or younger will be admitted FREE to this screening.
Wednesday, July 27
School’s Out. Shorts Program. Playing 5PM, Cinema Village.
In these short films, LGBT youth encounter coming out, falling for friends, and just growing up. All students and youth age 25 or younger will be admitted FREE to this screening.
Other Festival News
Win a free trip to Los Angeles and the Golden Globes After Party! Thanks to our sponsors HBO and American Airlines, anyone attending NewFest is welcome to enter to win this sweepstakes throughout the festival. Ballots and a ballot box for this sweepstakes will be placed in every theater lobby during the festival. The winner will be announced on our website and in an email blast on or before August 5, 2011. You cannot enter online, and you do not need to be present to win. Good Luck!
NewFest Honors Vachon Opening Night
Festival Opens at Lincoln Center
NewFest 2011, New York’s LGBT Film Festival, opens our 23rd season at Lincoln Center. Our festival begins with David Weissman’s moving portrait of a remarkable moment in time, We Were Here screening at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.This future classic documents the story of five members of one loving and affectionate community as they recount their days enduring one of their lives’ biggest challenges — the AIDS crisis. (NOTE: THIS FILM IS NOW SOLD OUT.) But that’s not all. As a special treat, you’ll have a front-row seat to NewFest history, when we honor legendary film producer Christine Vachon with our first ever NewFest Vision Award.
Join us again FRIDAY at Lincoln Center when NewFest presents A CONVERSATION WITH CHRISTINE VACHON, co-hosted with indieWIRE. Hear for yourself the story of one of American cinema’s best known movers-and-shakers in a candid, no-holds-barred discussion with indieWIRE’s Anthony Kaufman. The event is FREE of charge, with admittance on a first-come, first-served basis. That’s tomorrow, Friday, July 22 5PM at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.
NewFest in the News
When you have as many amazing films, documentaries and shorts as our 2011 festival does, sure, it’s easy to blow your own horn. Can you blame us? But don’t just take our word for it. Hear what these voices in the community have to say about NewFest:
The Village Voice: “NewFest 2011: Good Timing, Great Lineup,” by Melissa Anderson.
The exact midpoint of the 23rd edition of NewFest just happens to fall on the first day that Empire State inverts can legally tie the knot. But if marriage isn’t your thing, you can still celebrate the fact that this year’s LGBTQ cine-orgy, which includes 58 feature-length works and more than 60 shorts, boasts one of the strongest lineups since Beyoncé went solo.
A sober reminder of the not-too-distant past—when homos were focused not on putting a ring on it but on keeping people alive—the opening-night film, David Weissman’s We Were Here, simply lets its five interviewees recall their experiences living in San Francisco at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Reminiscent of the groundbreaking 1978 doc Word Is Out, Weissman’s generational portrait—four men and a woman, a nurse who poignantly stresses the psychic toll that occurs when “all you were doing was helping people die”—uses music cues and archival footage sparingly; the subjects’ powerful recollections require little embellishment.
In Rent Boys, the latest from Rosa von Praunheim, the veteran chronicler of lavender lives focuses on hustlers in Berlin, many of whom now hail from Eastern European countries. “Hustling is hustling. It has nothing to do with sexuality,” says a physician who volunteers for an outreach center, emphasizing the grim economic realities that lead men, some with wives and children, to become rough trade. Suspending judgment, even of the more unsavory johns he talks to, von Praunheim shows clear compassion for male sex workers, several of whom survived unspeakable childhood abuse—even if he can’t escape asking faux-naïve questions like, “Is it necessary to have a big cock to become a hustler?”
The prepubescent heroine of Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy fashions a tiny cock out of Play-Doh. After gangly, short-haired Laure (impressive Zoé Héran) and her family settle into a new apartment, she introduces herself to her neighbors as Mikael, rassling with the boys, going shirtless, and attracting the attention of crushed-out Lisa. When Laure’s gender illusion is exposed, Sciamma handles it with a mostly light touch and shows a real gift for capturing the simultaneously anarchic and highly rule-bound world of kids at play.
Skilled at more flamboyant gender performance, the L.A. voguing and ball-scene queens in Sheldon Larry’s wildly uneven but good-hearted musical Leave It on the Floor compete for vintage-prom realness. Larry’s film—a combination of Glee, Paris Is Burning, and the short-lived Logo series Noah’s Arc—is “dedicated to the thousands of gay and transgendered kids in this country who are still thrown out or who run away from oppressive circumstance[s],” many of them African-American and Latino, who make up most of the ball participants in cities across the country. Undermined by a sudsy script and wobbly acting, LIOTF at least concludes with a Willi Ninja–worthy finale.
Another kind of stage—the tennis court—serves as the backdrop for even more dramatic transformation. In his documentary Renée, Eric Drath traces how Richard Raskind, an alpha-male ophthalmologist with a mean left-handed serve, became Renée Richards, who played on the professional women’s tennis circuit from 1977 to 1981 (after having gender-reassignment surgery in 1975). Supported by the top competitors of the time, such as Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova (whom Richards would later coach), the six-foot-two player, seen in archival clips wearing a femmey tennis bonnet and resembling Glenn Close, admits today to being “an unwitting role model.” Though Drath is prone to fatuous voiceover, he’s assembled insightful interviews: One longtime friend, discussing Richards’s traditionalism, notes, “Renée’s image of herself was really of a ’50s woman, not a ’70s woman.”
Speaking of traditional, Andrew Haigh’s simple love story Weekend, which has already played extensively on the festival circuit and opens in New York in September, is still worthy of its NewFest centerpiece berth. An art fag and a semi-closeted lifeguard meet at a Nottingham, U.K., gay bar, then spend the next 48 hours having sex, talking, drugging, drinking, and letting down their guard. They clash over gay marriage—a heated dispute that only brings them closer together.
The New York Times: “The Week Ahead, July 17-23,” by Stephen Holden.
Of all the cinematic explorations of the AIDS crisis, not one is more heartbreaking and inspiring than “WE WERE HERE,” a quiet, elegiac documentary about the response to the epidemic in San Francisco. In the film, directed by David Weissman (who also produced it) and Bill Weber, the story is told calmly and sensitively by four men and one woman, all of whom suffered devastating losses. All five were deeply involved in caring for the dying and emerged profoundly saddened and spiritually enriched.
This shattering film is the opening-night selection (at Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center) of this year’s NewFest, the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Film Festival. Honoring the independent film producer CHRISTINE VACHON, the festival is showing more than 50 features and 60 shorts in locations around New York from Thursday to July 28.
The festival’s centerpiece, Andrew Haigh’s low-key indie drama “WEEKEND,” is another high point. The film (being shown at 8 p.m. July 21 at the School of Visual Arts) observes the fraught connection between Russell (Tom Cullen), a lifeguard at a public pool, and Glen (Chris New), a free-spirited art gallery employee in Nottingham, England, over two days after which Glen leaves for a two-year stay in the United States. The brilliant, semi-improvised performances in a running conversation interspersed with bouts of lovemaking captures the deepening intimacy of two smart, attractive men with very different philosophies whose meeting changes both of their lives.
Film Festival Today, “NEWFEST: A Meeting of New York’s LGBT Clan,” by Sandy Mandelberger.
“Film festivals for the LGBT community are not just about cinema”, Lesli Klainberg, NewFest’sExecutive Director commented in a phone interview. “They have always functioned as community building events where like-minded audiences can commune in the presence of filmmakers in a shared experience.” This cinematic sharing begins later this week as NewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Film Festival kicks off an ambitious season of films currently playing the extensive LGBT festival circuit. This year’s event, running from July 21 to 28, is an uptown/downtown affair, with the Opening and Closing Night Galas at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater and most programming centered at the SVA Theater in Chelsea and the Cinema Village in Greenwich Village. In addition, special satellite screenings will be held at The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Jewish Community Centerand Harlem Stage.
NewFest is one of three jewels in the crown on the summer LGBT festival circuit, with events already concluding in the past few weeks in San Francisco (Frameline) and Los Angeles (OutFest). “We decided to move our Festival dates to later in July so that there would not be competition with those other festivals in terms of getting films”, Klainberg continued. “For our audiences, some of the films may have premiered on the West Coast but are still new to them”, she explained. “We also decided to shift in order to be able to work with the Film Society of Lincoln Center and their availability. We see this as a start to a great working relationship in the future.”Klainberg did not rule out that more Festival films may find a berth in future years in the Film Society’s recently opened Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center.
Christine Vachon
Festivities begin on Thursday, July 21 with the East Coast premiere of WE WERE HERE, a provocative documentary that chronicles the origins of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. The film, by director/producer David Weissmann, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and will have a theatrical release in September via boutique distributor Red Light Releasing. Prior to the screening at the Walter Reade Theater,NewFest will honor legendary film producer Christine Vachon with the first annual NewFest Visionary Award. Vachon was one of the pioneers of the New Queer Cinema of the 1990s, having produced such seminal films asTodd Haynes’ classic POISON, Tom Kalin’s SWOONand the lesbian trendsetter GO FISH by Rose Troche.Vachon’s credits include such gay-centric films asVELVET GOLDMINE, BOYS DON’T CRY, PARTY MONSTER, CAMP, A DIRTY SHAME and the upcoming DIRTY GIRL, a film by Abe Sylviastarring Mila Jovovich, William H. Macy and Mary Steenburgen, that will screen at this year’s Festival. In addition, Vachon will also participate in a conversation at the Film Society’s newly opened Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Centeron Friday, June 22nd.
The Festival boasts two highly regarded Centerpiece Films: WEEKEND by Andrew Haigh is a delicately drawn drama about a drunken sex encounter between two men that turns into an emotional catharsis for both that will resonate throughout the rest of their lives. WISH ME AWAY, the second Centerpiece Film, comes to New York directly from its win at San Francisco’s Frameline Festival, with a powerful story at its core. The film, co-directed by Bobbi Birleffy and Beverly Kopf, chronicles the coming-out story of Chely Wright, the first commercial country music singer to come out as gay, shattering cultural stereotypes within Nashville, her conservative heartland family and, most importantly, within herself. The Festival ends on July 28 with the East Coast Premiere of GUN HILL ROAD, a powerful urban drama by Rashaad Ernesto Green, about an ex-con who returns home to the Bronx after three year in prison to discover his wife estranged and his teenage son exploring a sexual transformation that will put the fragile bonds of their family to the test. The film was one of the sleeper hits of the Sundance Film Festival and will receive a theatrical release later this summer via Motion Film Group.
With New York City, the center of the theater world, as its backdrop, it makes sense that there would be several films in the program that court the Broadway legend. Among the most anticipated in this sub-genre is a profile of theatrical legend Carol Channing that had its world premiere at theTribeca Film Festival in April. CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE by Dori Berinstein focuses on the personal and theatrical triumphs and tragedies of one of our great ladies of the stage. In THE GREEN, Broadway stars Cheyenne Jackson and Jason Butler Harnerstar as New York City ex-pats who move to an idyllic Connecticut village that also hides an undercurrent of homophobia. Jackson, a “homo heartthrob” if there ever was one, also is featured in the world premiere showing of ONE NIGHT STAND, which follows various participants in last year’s 24 hour musical competition. Jackson is joined with such other personalities as Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), chanteuse Nellie McKay, Richard Kind (A Serious Man), Rachel Dratch (SNL), Mandy Gonzalez (Wicked), and Tracie Thoms (Rent). Other buzz titles on the schedule include the Iranian drama CIRCUMSTANCE (winner of the Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Audience Award); 3, the story of a modern love triangle by German directorTom Twyker (RUN LOLA RUN); the decidedly weird but thoroughly fascinating voyeur documentary SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN!; OLD CATS, the newest film from Golden Globenominated directors Sebastian Silva & Pedro Peirano (THE MAID); P. David Ebersole’sHIT SO HARD portrait of Hole drummer Patty Schemel; James Belzer’s fashion week documentary THE TENTS, which features interviews with such fashionistas as Tommy Hilfiger, Isaac Mizrahi, Donna Karan, Phillip Bloch, Robert Verdi, Carson Kressleyand Betsey Johnson; and my personal favorite for best Festival title, CO-DEPENDENT LESBIAN SPACE ALIEN SEEKS SAME.
“While our community finally does have some resources where they can find some LGBT programming, the truth is that what is available is extremely limited”, Lesli Klainberg pointed out in our interview. “Cable network LOGO is not acquiring films anymore, preferring to concentrate on original reality-based programming. The HERE! Network is not widely available. Certain films do make it onto NETFLIX and other streaming outlets, but the hard truth is that most of the films that we are showing will probably never get seen that way and only are available at an LGBT film festival.” All the more reason for LGBT film lovers and film buffs in general, should make their way to one of the NewFest venues and catch these films before (most of them) fade away. It is a chance to catch a rising star, enjoy a communal experience and have bragging rights to being “in the know” about the films and personalities on the scene.
indieWIRE: “Codependent Lesbian Space Alien” Director Madeleine Olnek on Sticking to Comedies,” by Nigel Smith.
Why She’s On Our Radar: Her debut feature, the hilarious black-and-white sci-fi romantic comedy “Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same,” charmed the pants off critics and audiences at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year where it world premiered. The film’s since gone on to slay at a slew of festivals and will next hit Outfest on July 16 and Newfest on July 24.
More About Her: Olnek is no stranger to Sundance. Two of her short films (“Hold Up” and “Countertransference”) played at the festival and while in Park City in 2009, she was awarded with the L.A. ‘Women in Film’ grant for outstanding direction. “Coutertransference” has since gone to to win Grand Jury prizes at both Outfest and Newfest. Olnek, who’s also an established playwright, holds an MFA in film from Columbia University, where she was given the Adrienne Shelly Award for Best Female Director. She is also the co-author of “A Practical Handbook for the Actor,” which features a foreword by David Mamet.
What’s Next: Apart from getting the film ready for distribution (Olnek has set up a Kickstarter page to get the film out to buyers), Olnek said she’s working on “some projects.” “I definitely don’t like to talk about them,” she said.
indieWIRE Asks: The film’s been hopping from festival to festival following its world premiere at Sundance. How’s the ride been so far?
I’ve been on the festival circuit with shorts before. And I know once you get on it you’re on it. I still get emails years later for events to show my short films. It’s been great. We’ve had really great audiences.
I’ve been happy with how it’s gone. We’ve certainly had a very broad audience. Everyone from groups of seniors to young sci-fi guys. I was surprised to see the later group latch onto this film because I don’t see it as true science fiction, although I have huge respect for sci-fi.
Speaking of sci-fi, were you a big fan of the genre before taking this project on or did you become one in the process?
When I worked on it I did spend a lot of time at the World of Video in New York. The guys who work there know every sci-fi movie that’s ever been made. It’s a wonderful store. We’re going to lose that with Netflix…that experience that people have in the video store where you can talk to people who are so knowledgeable about genres and about films. I tried to only let myself see sci-fi films while I was working on the movie. I at one point remember looking forward to the point where I would no longer be watching these types of films. Certainly some of the more primitively made ones absolutely have their charm, but they also can be bad in a way…that I tried to tip my hat to.
There’s something very charming about them in the same way I found something very charming about the downtown performance art/comedy scene when I first started doing theater in the East Village.
Of all the genres in B-movies, the sci-fi ones are the most financially successful because they really tap a nerve for people, in terms of the collective unconscious fears of nuclear war, the atomic bomb dropping etc. I thought it’d be funny to take that paranoid world and combine it with lesbian romance.
In an interview you did with Curve you said you’ll only make comedies for rest of your filmmaking career. Do you still stand by that statement?
I think to make a tragedy is redundant. Life is already a tragedy, we’re all going to die. I think it’s almost not creative to make something like that. It’s just regurgitating the situation as it is. So I feel like it’s very important if you can make comedies to make them.
I remember my experience going and watching “Stardust Memories,” being so excited to go see another Woody Allen, and realizing it wasn’t another comedy. I was actually very angry because I felt like, how can someone who is so funny, who has a special way of seeing the world, turn around and make a drama. Anyone can make a drama. I think it’s an obligation of people who are able to do comedy to continue to do it.
In the same vein, are you set on only making films about lesbians?
That’s harder to say. I certainly have stories that I’ve worked on that haven’t been as much. I think comedy can contain the whole world. As you know how, it’s so hard to make a movie, whatever story you tell better be one you’re very compelled by. I definitely will be telling stories that I care about.
I have a wide view of what a lesbian story is. For example I think “Being John Malkovich” is a brilliant lesbian film. That movie has a happy ending for its two characters. That wide path it takes you on…I think that’s an amazing film. If I could ever make a film like that I could die happy.
I thought “Mulholland Drive” was also an incredible story about what it’s like to be gay. I don’t think people see that movie that way at all.
AfterElton.com: “Review: Things Get Steamy in August (Both the Month and the Movie!)” by Brett Hartinger.
Two of the leading actors in the new gay indie film August, Murray Bartlett and Adrian Gonzalez, have at least a brief history in the world of soap operas (All My Children and The Bold and the Beautiful, respectively). It’s an interesting coincidence, because — its moody atmosphere and obvious arthouse pretensions aside — the movie is angst-y and full of impossibly pretty boys, just like, well, a soap opera.
On the other hand, what’s the problem with that? Trust me: you’ve never seen a soap opera quite this “gay” before, nor have you ever seen one this joyously sensual.
Five years ago, Troy (Bartlett) and Jonathan (Daniel Dugan) were in the middle of a passionate relationship — but it was not a healthy relationship for Jonathan, who almost lost himself in Troy’s smoldering sensuality. Maybe it was a good thing Troy eventually dumped Jonathan and moved to Spain. Jonathan moved on, eventually partnering up with smokin’ hot Raul.
But now Troy has suddenly returned and wants to strike up a casual friendship. Or does he want something more? Before long, Jonathan has a choice: does he stay with his increasingly resentful new boyfriend Raul (Gonzalez), or does he try again with Troy, even though they’re already slipping back into old, unhealthy patterns (and even though it’s obvious the relationship will end no differently than before).
First things first: is there a person alive who hasn’t had to deal with the conflict between the heart and the head — and the realization that a person can turn us on sexually, but still be very bad for us in every other sense? Passion and love sometimes run on completely different tracks. Is it worth the price we pay to get on the “wrong” train?
There’s something interesting to explore here, and I liked that the movie did it without judgment or apology.
And let’s make something very clear: this film is more than just soft-core porn, or an excuse to show lots of pretty men shirtless. It’s definitely not Dante’s Cove or The Lair. The acting and production values are much higher, for one thing.
That said, there’s not as much substance here as the movie thinks. Part of the problem is that, looks aside, the characters just aren’t all that engaging: Jonathan has almost no identity of his own — which is the whole point, but it’s still not very watchable — and Troy comes across as something of a flighty, self-absorbed jerk. We’re supposed to fall for his passionate nature along with Jonathan, but for the most part, I didn’t.
It’s telling that some of the most interesting characters, including Jonathan’s brother, have some of the movie’s smallest parts.
Still, I admired the fact that the movie was sensual without being pervy, and I appreciated the love triangle’s inevitable, if campy resolution, not to mention its appropriately bittersweet coda.
I hope the filmmakers didn’t have “crossover” aspirations, because I can’t see this film appealing to anyone other than gay and bi men and their admirers. But if that describes you, there are worse ways than August to spend your August days.
AUGUST premieres at the 2011 NewFest Film Festival, screening Fri. Jul 22 and Sat. Jul 23
New York Press: “NewFest Screens July 21-28,” by Kate Mooney.
New Fest, New York’s premier LGBT Film Festival, returns for its 23rd season July 21–July 28. This year’s festival will include 50 feature films, four dozen shorts and a documentary film series, at venues including Village Cinema, BAM, Lincoln Center, the School of Visual Arts (SVA) and Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image.
The fest kicks off Thursday, July 21, at Lincoln Center, with the 7 p.m. screening of We Were Here. Directed by David Weissman, the documentary follows five members of the gay community in idyllic 1970s San Francisco as they begin to face the challenges of the next decade’s AIDS crisis. The film will be followed by the opening night party down the street at the American Folk Art Museum (ticket price includes admission).
Lauded LGBT director Casper Andreas (A Four Letter Wod, The Big Gay Musical) adapted Andy Zeiffer’s novel into Going Down in LA-LA Land, a tale of an ambitious young gay man’s descent into the dark side of Hollywood, which screens Friday, July 22 at SVA 1.San Francisco Bay Guardian calls it “perfect summer entertainment—the perfect mix of message and mindlessness.”
Dirty Girl, directed by Abe Sylvia and with a cast including Mila Jovovich, William H. Macy and Dwight Yokum, screens at 10:00 p.m., Saturday, July 23, at SVA 2. The story pairs Danielle, the “dirty girl” of her high school in Norman, Okla., with closeted loner Clarke on a trip to California to seek out Danielle’s long-lost father, while Clarke escapes the threat of military school by his homophobic father.
Featured in the narrative film category, Andrew Haigh’s Weekend shows Sunday, July 24, at 8 p.m. A 2011 Sundance Emerging Visions Audience Award winner, the film chronicles a romantic weekend between two men who have just met, a la Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise/Before Sunset.
Later that night, at 10:30 p.m., Marie Losier’s documentary The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (an official selection of this spring’s Tribeca Film Festival), captures the love story between artist and musician Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Lady Jaye, and the “Pandrogyne” project they undertook to literally become each other’s “other halves” through surgery. Lady Jaye died in 2007, leaving a heartbroken Genesis, who continued to transform himself to become more like the love of his life.
Jonathan Caoette’s surreal short All Flowers in Time screens before, starring Chloe Sevigny.
With a mix of lighthearted comedy, complicated love stories and political commentary, you’ll be sure to be entertained and moved by these award-winning stories of sexual exploration and the search for identity in LGBT culture.
Documentaries at NewFest
Stories For and About Our Community
The richness, variety and diversity of the LGBT community come to life on the big screen this week, when NewFest presents its 2011 Documentary Series. Extraordinary, unforgettable, and most of all real, they’re the stories that dig deep below the surface to engage and enlighten. Just a few of the many fine documentary films on our program include:
The Advocate for Fagdom. Gay movie audiences are already familiar with the two-decade-long career of Canadian filmmaker Bruce La Bruce, and the unique style with which he marries hardcore sex and political messages. Here, director Angélique Bosio introduces us to the man behind the movies in a portrait of Bruce guaranteed to madden, irritate, enchant, charms and fascinate. Along the way, you’ll also hear what such luminaries as John Waters, Bruce Benderson, Harmony Korine, Gus Van Sant, Richard Kern, Rick Castro have to say about his contributions to LGBT cinema. Playing Friday, July 22 at 8:30PM, at Cinema Village.
Homo@lv. In the summer of 2005, two men came up with the idea to organize an unprecedented event – a festive lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people’s parade through the streets of Riga, the capital of Latvia. Following the example of similar LGBT parades in Western cities, they decided to call it ‘Pride’… not knowing what was supposed to be party would spiral into a chain of inconceivable events lasting several years. Latvia’s struggle for gay rights is the subject of an in-depth profile in the current edition of Mother Jones magazine. Directed by Kaspars Goba. Playing Saturday, July 23 at 12:30PM, at Cinema Village.
The Queen Has No Crown. Director Tomer Heymann’s poignant meditation on family and loss, navigating the intimate lives of five brothers and their mother, as they experience the pains of exile and the joys of family bonding. As three of the sons leave Israel for better lives in America, they fulfill their dreams, but shatter those of their mother. A divorcee, she is left alone in Israel with her two bachelor sons — one straight, one gay. Screens with Camp, a short film by Alexis Mitchell. Playing Tuesday, July 26 at 9PM, JCC Manhattan.
Gone. Directed by Gretchen and John Morning. To what lengths will a mother go to locate her missing adult son? Kathy Gilleran is a retired cop on the Ithaca PD force whose son Aeryn suddenly disappeared in Vienna in 2007. You’ll hear Kathy’s story primarily through riveting interview sequences, in which she describes her struggle to confront homophobia, secrets, lies, and a possible conspiracy – all in a country foreign to her. Playing Sunday, July 24 at 12:30PM; and Wednesday, July 27 at 7:30PM. Both shows at Cinema Village.
Hooters! Directed by Anna Margarita Albelo. A hilarious and irreverent look behind-the-scenes at the filming of director Cheryl Dunye’s 2010 thriller The Owls (which was a huge hit with audiences when it played at NewFest last year.) Co-sponsored by the Lesbian Herstory Archives. Playing Sunday, July 24 at 4PM, Cinema Village.
Renee. Spotlighting the life and career of brilliant surgeon, world-ranked tennis player and transgender pioneer Renee Richards. Hear what Richards’ contemporaries have to say about the living legend, in interviews with such tennis greats as Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Jimmy Connors. Enjoy rarely seen archival footage of Renee at the US Open, and meet family members including Renee’s son, sister and former wife. Co-sponsored by OutSports. Playing Saturday, July 23 at 5PM; and Monday, July 25 at 5:30PM. Both shows at Cinema Village.
Be sure not to miss these other great documentaries we’ve selected for you at NewFest:
Thursday, July 21
We Were Here Opening Night event includes After Party at American Folk Art Museum. 7PM, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.
Friday, July 22
Cho Dependent 5:30PM, SVA Theatre
Wish Me Away Centerpiece Documentary plus reception, 7:30PM, SVA Theatre
I’m From Driftwood Presents Screens with Gay in America with Scott Pasfield event. 3PM, Cinema Village.
Habana Muda Co-sponsored by Cinemarosa. Screens with Caos, a short film by Fabio Baldo. 6:30PM, Cinema Village.
In Their Room-Berlin Co-sponsored by The L Magazine. Screens with Red Red Red, a short film by David Oscar Harvey. 10:30PM, Cinema Village.
Saturday, July 23
365 Without 377 Screens with Amen, a short film by Ranadeep Bhattarachyya and Judhajit Bagchi. 7:30PM, Cinema Village.
An Ordinary Couple Co-sponsored by SAGE. 11AM, SVA Theatre.
(A)sexual Co-sponsored by IFP. 1:00PM, SVA Theatre.
The Tents 6PM, SVA Theatre.
Sunday, July 24
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life 2PM, SVA Theatre.
One Night Stand 8:15PM, SVA Theatre.
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye Co-sponsored by Dirty Looks. Screens with All Flowers in Time, a short film by Jonathan Caouette. 10:30PM, SVA Theatre.
Our Lips Are Sealed Screens with Man in the Mirror, a short film by Joel Schumacher. 12:30PM, Cinema Village.
Orchids: My Intersex Adventure 9PM, Cinema Village.
Rent Boys 8PM, Cinema Village.
Shut Up, Little Man! An Audio Misadventure 3:30PM, SVA Theatre.
In Their Room-Berlin Repeat screening, 10:15PM, Cinema Village.
Tuesday, July 26
Paul Goodman Changed My Life 6:30PM, JCC Manhattan
Photos of Angie 8PM, Cinema Village.
What’s the Name of the Dame? 7:30PM, Cinema Village.
Rent Boys Repeat screening. 7:30PM, Cinema Village.
Wednesday, July 27
Hit So Hard 6:50PM, BAM, Brooklyn.
Tickets are available for all shows. More information is available by clicking the links above and in our Film Guide.
Rashaad Ernesto Green’s GUN HILL ROAD
Plus, NewFest’s Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury
Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “a sophisticated intimate twist on a father-son drama”, Gun Hill Road is Rashaad Ernesto Green’s first feature film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Set in the Bronx, Gun Hill Road follows Enrique (Esai Morales of La Bamba, NYPD Blue), a macho ex-convict returning home from a three-year prison sentence, who slowly learns that his son Michael (Harmony Santana, at left) is transitioning into Vanessa, a woman. Unable to accept his child, Enrique clings to his masculine ideals, while his wife Angela (Judy Reyes from Scrubs) fiercely tries to hold her family together by protecting Michael.
A transsexual female on-screen and in real life, newcomer Harmony Santana gives a fearless and authentic performance that will stay with you long after you’ve left the theater. When asked about casting for the role, Green says, “I knew from the start I wanted to cast the role non-traditionally, i.e. outside of the normal means of finding talent through an agent or casting director. In order for the film to be successful, I needed to find the genuine article.”
“The search was absolutely grueling. I pulled my hair out for weeks and kicked myself for writing myself into a hole. We stumbled in and out of 18-and-over nightclubs at 3am, attended every youth organization and function you can think of,” says Green. ”Eventually, we found Harmony. Newcomer Harmony Santana was working at a parade booth in Queens. She was the right age and type, showed up on time to the audition, had that special something I had been looking for, and was dedicated to learning the craft of acting.”
Drawing on scenes and struggles from her own life, Santana takes us into Vanessa’s pre-date routine and the challenges she faces in an effort to present herself as she feels inside. Don’t miss this moving portrayal of a transsexual teen that will move and inspire you. Playing Thursday, July 28 at 7:00PM, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. Click here for tickets to the event, which includes an Awards Ceremony and Closing Night afterparty.
But Before Our Closing Night Feature Begins…
Introducing the 2011 jurors behind NewFest’s 15th ANNUAL FILMMAKER AWARDS, to be presented at our Closing Night ceremony. These are the panelists responsible for choosing this year’s Best Documentary Feature; Best Narrative Feature; Outstanding Performance; Best Documentary Short; and Best Narrative Short awards.
NARRATIVE FEATURE JURY
ADEPERO ODUYE, soon to be seen as the lead in the Sundance sensation Pariah, hails from Brooklyn, New York City by way of Nigeria. She is a graduate of Cornell University; and has studied acting with Wynn Handman, Austin Pendleton, and Susan Batson. Her theatre credits include Danai Gurira’s play Eclipsed, at the Yale Repertory Theatre; The Bluest Eye, at the Hartford Stage and Long Wharf Theatres; and Fela!, in the AEA workshop, directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones. Ms. Oduye first starred for writer/director Dee Rees as Alike in the award-winning short film Pariah. Among the other shorts that she has starred in are Gabriele Zamparini’s Water; Russell Costanzo’s The Tested; and Nadiah Hamzah’s Sub Rosa. She has made guest appearances on such television programs as Louie and two Law & Order series.
WILSON CRUZ rose to fame as Rickie Vasquez, the best friend of Angela Chase (Claire Danes) in the ABC drama My So-Called Life. From there, he gained roles in television series Party of Five, Noah’s Arc, Rick & Steve, and Raising the Bar. Cruz also starred in the Richie Rich biopic Party Monster as Angel, Coffee Date, and last year’s indie The People I’ve Slept With. Cruz is one of the leading out US film and television actors.
DJ REKHA embarks on the next chapter of her career and announces the release of her highly anticipated debut album — DJ Rekha Presents Basement Bhangra — out Fall 2007 on Twisted/KOCH. On her debut, Basement Bhangra, DJ Rekha invites the listener to go with her into a world that merges the traditional Bhangra music of South Asia and the Hip-Hop beats of today, this disc takes you on a journey into the infectious expanding South Asian dance music genre known as Bhangra. The listener will be able to experience some of the music that is heard at DJ Rekha’s own internationally known event called Basement Bhangra, the New York dance party which takes place every first Thursday of the month at Sounds of Brazil (S.O.B.’s)that DJ Rekha has spearheaded and nurtured for more than ten years now.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE JURY
CAMERON YATES is a documentary filmmaker and film programmer. He is currently a Programmer for the Hamptons International Film Festival, and the former Documentary Programmer for NewFest where he worked for the past 5 years. He has also worked for the Sundance Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, Albert Maysles, and Zeitgeist Films, and has been a contributor to indieWIRE. Cameron’s first film “14 and Payrolled”, a half-hour portrait of four teenagers working as pages for the Virginia House of Delegates, premiered on PBS in 2003. The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival awarded Cameron the 2009 Garrett Scott Documentary Grant, given to emerging filmmakers who bring a unique vision to the content and style of contemporary documentary production. His first feature documentary The Canal Street Madam, the story of a New Orleans madam who ran a brothel with her mother and daughter until she was busted by the FBI, premiered at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival and is currently on the international film festival circuit.
PETER KNEGT is associate editor at indieWIRE.com. Additionally, he contributed as a writer to Variety, Xtra!, Exclaim, Winq, InToronto, and Playback, and has worked for numerous film festivals including Hot Docsl, Image+Nation, Toronto International Film Festival. He programmed the inaugural year of the Reel Out Film Festival in Halifax, and continues to organize Picton Picturefest, a film festival and “cinephile retreat” held in rural Ontario. Currently, he serves on the advisory board of the University of Toronto’s Sexual Diversity Studies program. His first book, a study on the history of queer people in Canada, is due out this September.
KALUP LINZY is an American video and performance artist currently living and working in Brooklyn. Linzy earned his MFA at the University of South Florida and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture before becoming a Guggenheim Fellow in 2007. Named as one of the ten most promising artists by New York Magazine, Linzy’s work is included in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, and Whitney Museum of American Art. Linzy has appeared on ABC’s General Hospital alongside James Franco, with whom Linzy recently released a three-track EP titled Turn it Up.
SHORTS JURY
MARIA CATALDO is a New York City-based filmmaker and theater artist. As a film editor her credits include Rain, which premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, Children of God, voted one of The Independent’s 2010 Features to Watch, Wind Jammers, official selection of this year’s San Diego Black Film Festival, and the currently completed Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, set for release this summer. Further film credits include her work through The Weinstein Company on films such as Bobby, Factory Girl, Dedication, The Protector, Penelope and The Dixie Chicks’ documentary Shut Up and Sing. Additionally, Maria is an editor for MTV Networks and has held numerous residencies for her visual work and theater writing.
KSENIA ZEMSKAYA co-founded «Side by Side», the first annual LGBT Film Festival in Saint Petersburg, Russia. After being shut down in 2008, the festival has presented over a hundred public screenings and educational events throughout the country and continues the fight for open and safe queer art space in the conditions of widespread homophobia and intolerance. Ksenia came to the United States in 2003 on a Ford Foundation International Fellowship to study art therapy at New York University. Ksenia has over ten years of clinical experience in Russia and the United States. She presents, publishes and consults internationally on the topics of mental health and creative arts. 
ABI BENITEZ was born in Gaspar Hernandez, a remote village on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic, emigrated to the United States in 1997 to pursue an education in the arts and establish himself as an American citizen. Numerous assignments in the design world, including a four-year stint as art director for a national publication, propelled Abi’s professional life forward and ignited an intense interest in the cultural arts and nightlife of his adopted city. Gayletter, fueled by this intense passion, a uniquely fluid collaboration Abi created with co-founder Tom Jackson, is a weekly online newsletter that informs readers about the who, what, when, where and why of queer culture in NYC.
NEWDRAFT JURY
NewFest isn’t just about bringing you LGBT film: we’re here to help discover new voices and help new screenplays find an audience and backing. That’s why we sponsor the NewDraft Screenplay Competition & Reading Series. Every year we recognize screenplays with staged readings. If you’ve got a screenplay, you could be one of our winners! The 2011 NewDraft Finalists are: Beautiful Disaster, Shana Naomi Krochmal; Boys in the Trees, Nicholas Verso; Dish, Brian Harris Krinsky & Boni Alvarez; G.B.F., George Northy ; July Flame, Anton De Ionn. Meet our NewDraft Jury:
As writer/director, STEPHEN WINTER is finishing a new short film Death Is Lame (2011). Producer of Jonathan Caouette’s feature documentary Tarnation (2004), Sundance, Cannes, Wellspring Worldwide Distribution, AFI’s “Moments of Significance” of 2004. Collaborations with Xan Cassavetes include co-writer of Allen Hughes segment in New York, I Love You (2009). Has worked with directors Lee Daniels on Precious (2009) and John Cameron Mitchell on Shortbus (2006). Executive producer of upcoming feature documentary: Oscar’s Comeback, director: Lisa Collins, editor: Brian A. Kates. Feature film debut writer/director: Chocolate Babies (1997). New York University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
DAVID BRIND is a writer and filmmaker whose work has screened in festivals around the world including Sundance, Tribeca and here at NewFest. David wrote and co-produced DARE starring Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, Rooney Mara, and Alan Cumming which premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival as a Grand Jury Prize Nominee. The critically acclaimed film had a theatrical release and is now widely available on DVD & Blu-Ray. Here in NYC, David directed Sandra Bernhard in her Off-Broadway one-woman show Sandra Bernhard: Everything Bad and Beautiful. Current projects include the screenplay adaptation of the novel LEVERAGE for Academy Award-winning producer Stanley Jaffe (Kramer vs. Kramer, Fatal Attraction).
MOLLY MAYEUX, whose career spans more than sixteen years, is the founder of Dahlia Street Films. Mayeux’s producing career began with Savior, starring Dennis Quaid and executive produced by Oliver Stone. Since that time, her numerous list of credits include The Hi-Line starring Rachel Leigh Cook, Dandelion starring Vincent Kartheiser and Taryn Manning, HBO’s Dancing in September, and Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Most recently, Mayeux produced Rain, currently in release by Image Entertainment, I Will Follow, Deadline, a crime drama starring Eric Roberts, and Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede starring Jon Heder.
HEATHER MATARAZZO is a screen actress who also serves on the Board of Directors here at NewFest. Matarazzo’s breakthrough role was in Todd Solondz’s breakout film Welcome to the Dollhouse. Matarazzo has had roles in television on Now and Again, Exes and Ohs, Life on Mars, and a stint playing DJ’s girlfriend on Roseanne. She has also starred in such films as The Princess Diaries series, The Devil’s Advocate, Saved!, and this year’s NewFest selection Mangus!
Our other VIP panelists at NewFest include… YOU, our festival guests! Audience Awards will be announced at our Closing Night ceremony, based on results from ballots collected after every screening at all seven of our 2011 venues. Be sure to collect and return your ballot every time you see a movie at the festival.
Hit Director Returns with ‘Going Down’
Prolific gay writer, director, producer and sometime actor Casper Andreas (Big Gay Musical, A Four-Letter Word, and last year’s NewFest hit Violet Tendences) goes west for his newest feature, Going Down in LA-LA Land.
Based on Andy Zeffer’s bestselling (and semi-autobiographical) novel, the film follows all-American boy and aspiring actor Adam (Mattrhew Ludwinski), who has just arrived in Los Angeles from New York to make his name in the biz. If Andreas’s new film is any proof, Truman Capote may have been wrong when he said, “It’s redundant to die in Los Angeles.”
Although the film has all the hilarious clichés moviegoers have grown to expect from Tinseltown – botched auditions, naive actors, shyster agents – Variety says Going Down in LA-LA Land is “a polished, entertaining look at biz realities from a gay perspective.”
When hunky Adam can’t break into the movie business, he meets hot Nick from the gym (played by Andreas) who gets him a job as an office assistant at a gay porn outfit. Adam soon graduates to production assistant (fluffer) to star to escort and soon meets the man of his dreams in a closeted star with a hit TV-show.
When Adam and his new love come face-to-face with Hollywood’s homophobia, the film becomes particularly poignant, and we see that every characters’ desperate drive—for money, drugs, sex, or even love—rings true. Going Down in LA-LA Land is “perfect summer entertainment – the right mix of message and mindlessness.” (San Francisco Bay Times). Playing Friday, July 22 at 10:30PM, SVA Theatre in Chelsea.
When Art Becomes Life, and Vice-Versa
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
It’s a common cliché that, the longer a couple stays together in a relationship, the more each partner starts to resemble the other. But to what lengths would two people go to take things to the next step, to surgically alter their facial features, to physically and literally look like one another? In The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, ground-breaking performance artist and music pioneer Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and his partner-collaborator, Lady Jaye, do exactly that — in a series of daring sexual transformations they called their “Pandrogyne” project.
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge has been a key figure of the underground music scene for over 30 years. A cult artist in prepunk and post-punk groups Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, he is considered to be the father of industrial music and a pioneer of acid house and techno. Not content with breaking new ground in music, Genesis has also used his position at the limits of society to challenge the very fundamentals of biology, as he does here with Lady Jaye (now deceased) as his muse and collaborator, documented over a period of seven years by director Marie Losier.
A native of France, The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye isn’t Losier’s first film portrait of avant-garde artists. Her previous subjects include filmmakers Guy Maddin and The Kuchar brothers, and theater director Richard Foreman, in works described by as whimsical, poetic, dreamlike and unconventional. She lives and works in New York, and has been the film curator at the French Institute Alliance Française since 2000. Genesis and Lady Jaye plays Sunday, July 24 at 10:30PM, at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea. You’ll also enjoy a special screening of Jonathan Couette’s (Tarnation) short film All Flowers in Time, starring Chloe Sevigny, immediately before the feature. Click here for tickets and more information.
Other must-see films headlining our 2011 festival season:
Paul Goodman Changed My Life. A documentary portrait of the writer and public intellectual chiefly remembered as the author of 1960′s landmark Growing Up Absurd, a book which helped to galvanize and define that era’s student movement. A philosopher of the New Left, brilliant poet, out queer and family man, radical pacifist and visionary, Paul Goodman’s ideas and stubborn integrity helped many in our community find a moral compass in the sixties. Directed by Jonathan Lee. Playing Tuesday, July 26 at 6:30PM, at Manhattan’s Jewish Community Center. (After viewing Paul Goodman, be sure to stick around for Tomer Heymann’s The Queen Has No Crown at 9PM, the other feature film on our Tuesday night bill at JCC. Click here and here for tickets and more details.)
Photos of Angie. A heart-wrenching reminder that, as much progress has been made by the LGBT community, there is still so much more work needed for greater acceptance and protection of transgendered individuals. In July 2008, Angie Zapata, a transgender teenager from Greeley, Colorado was murdered. In Photos of Angie, director Alan Dominguez documents the horrific story of her death through interviews with family, reporters, politicians, and activists, against the backdrop of a trans-phobic criminal justice system. Follow this link for tickets to the Tuesday, July 26, 8PM screening at Cinema Village.
Tomboy. Directed by Celine Sciamma (Water Lillies). A lighthearted, bittersweet glimpse into a period of time when, for many LGBT youths, budding hormones collide with parental and societal expectations, with unpredictable results. Here you’ll meet Laure, a 10-year-old girl who’s decided to start life in a new neighborhood as Michael, her male alter-ego, yielding unexpected levels of attention and popularity. But as Michael/Laure learns all too quickly, acceptance from the world on her terms probably won’t last forever. Tickets are available for TWO screenings, both at Cinema Village: Friday, July 22 at 3PM, and Sunday, July 24 at 7PM.
An Ordinary Couple. A romantic and uplifting documentary following two extraordinary men on an unexpected journey from their funeral to their wedding, in that order. Unable to legally marry in 2006, Orin Kennedy and Bernardo Puccio celebrate their life together by inviting their closest friends to their “living funeral” where a 12-foot Kennedy-Puccio monument is unveiled. Directors Jay Gianukos and Susan Barnes intertwining themes of love, politics, humor and political commentary in this deeply personal look at an extraordinary couple’s dedication to one another. Playing Saturday, July 23 at 11AM, at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea.
