35 Years of NewFest, New York's LGBTQ+ Film Festival

How do you hook-up with the popular girls if you’re deemed a high school “unpopular gay loser”? In this raucous no-holds-barred comedy directed and co-written by Emma Seligman (SHIVA BABY), unpopular queer girls PJ (co-writer/star Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”) start a fight club in their senior year of high school for the sole purpose of impressing their cheerleader crushes. BOTTOMS subversively shifts the teen comedy genre into an anarchic queer romp with startling and hilarious results.

This extraordinary documentary follows opera singer Nelly Mousset-Vos and writer Nadine Hwang, who met and fell in love while imprisoned in Ravensbrück, a German concentration camp, in 1944. Despite being separated in the last months of the war, they later reunite and spend the rest of their lives together. All that is left of the unlikely love story — kept secret for decades — are photos, letters, and Super-8 film reels kept in boxes. Stumbling upon these years later, Nelly’s granddaughter Sylvie begins piecing together Nelly and Nadine’s legacy and uncovering the records of their remarkable love. Winner of the Teddy Jury Prize at Berlinale, NELLY & NADINE takes audiences on a journey through these personal archives to excavate the nearly forgotten history of one of the greatest love stories never told.

Honorable Mention: ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED

Amin Nawabi has never told anyone how he and his family left Afghanistan. A bureaucratic system built to criminalize immigrants has forced asylum seekers like Amin to hold back for safety; but years later, re-settled and thriving in Denmark, he’s opening up for the first time. Through spellbinding animation, director Jonas Poher Rasmussen reveals Amin’s courageous journey and why he hasn’t yet been able to tell the full story. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, FLEE merges vivid, one-of-a-kind animation and emotional narrative to bring Amin’s sensational memoir to life.

This one-of-a-kind charmer infuses the spirit of classic high school films like MEAN GIRLS with an electricity that will leave you buzzing. Forced to leave the coastal city of Recife when her father gets a job in a small conservative town in the South of Brazil, transgender teenage social media star Alice Júnior’s life is suddenly thrust into uncertainty and drab dread. Alice is determined to take on Catholic school (and its uniform) with verve and wit and make the most of her new setting, religious classmates, and budding crushes. In her very first acting role, Anne Celestino Mota infuses Alice with an infectious relatability, inspiring confidence, and nuanced charm. Powered by a spirited style rife with color, kitsch, and creativity, ALICE JÚNIOR is a celebration of rebellious youth and the potential for future generations to rethink outdated perspectives of gender, sexuality, and differences as a whole.

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Sweden’s official selection for Best International Feature Film at the 2019 Academy Awards, AND THEN WE DANCED offers a riveting and visceral lead performance from newcomer Gelbakhiani, with dynamic cinematography throughout and a cathartic dance sequence that will leave you breathless.

Honorable Mention: BILLIE & EMMA

Kena and Ziki have long been told that “good Kenyan girls become good Kenyan wives” – but they yearn for something more. Bursting with the colorful street style and music of Nairobi’s vibrant youth culture, RAFIKI is a tender love story between two young women in a country still criminalizing homosexuality.

Watch advocate/media personality Ashlee Marie Preston and members of the Facebook Group LGBTQ Movie Club discuss the film on YouTube

Honorable Mentions: DYKES, CAMERA, ACTION! ; KANARIE ; I HATE NEW YORK

In Francis Lee’s directorial debut, a lonely sheep farmer (Josh O’Connor) numbs himself with drinking and random sex before meeting a Romanian migrant worker who ignites a hidden desire. The movie received Sundance’s World Cinema Directing Award in 2017.

Honorable Mention: LOVE LETTER RESCUE SQUAD

With her fourth feature film, acclaimed director So Yong Kim (TREELESS MOUNTAIN, IN BETWEEN DAYS) delivers a tender testament to the deep, emotional bond between Mindy (Jena Malone) and Sarah (Riley Keough) as they confront their long-unspoken intimacy. Digging far beneath the surface of female friendship while avoiding clichés, this nuanced drama exposes the complexity inherent in companionship. As her relationship with her husband deteriorates, Sarah calls her college friend Mindy for an impromptu road trip. Their connection intensifies along the backroads of Upstate New York, but the two lose touch until Sarah makes another trip, several years later, for Mindy’s wedding. LOVESONG plays on the nearly spiritual dialogue between Mindy and Sarah that keeps the love story front and center while balancing the blurred line between friendship and desire.

Two young, Black, gay Muslim boys begin a relationship they must keep hidden from their Brooklyn community. When an undercover FBI agent incorrectly assumes the pair is involved in a criminal enterprise, this sweet ode to love soon transforms into a serious and timely study of racism and religion in everyday America. In his observational and intimate debut, writer-director Jay Dockendorf proves himself an exciting new voice in independent cinema.

Stuck fending off bullies and over-protective parents, Leonardo spends his days allowing his best friend Giovana to drag him around town. Being blind has always been an inconvenience for Leonardo, but his angsty adolescence gets a lift when the handsome and smooth-talking Gabriel turns down numerous offers from ogling girls to hang with Leonardo after school. The longer they spend together, the more apparent their shared attraction becomes.

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This sexy, funny, poignant new film from Chris Mason Johnson (THE NEW TWENTY) won two Outfest Los Angeles 2013 Grand Jury Prizes for its portrayal of Frankie (Scott Marlowe), a sexy young dancer in 1985 San Francisco enjoying big city life and the erotic freedom that comes with it. But when he’s not onstage performing (in a series of stunning dance sequences) or bringing new friends up to his apartment, Frankie debates whether or not he should take the brand-new HIV test. Mixing unforgettable characters, sharp writing, and dazzling choreography, this exuberant period piece calls to mind PARTING GLANCES and other classics of urban queer cinema.

JJ, a hot Black British stud, and her best friend Seb, a cute white twink run around the urban London LGBT scene. JJ falls for a mysterious sexy woman and Seb is left to his own devices with online hookups and an overly affectionate drug dealer. The grit of the city and the betrayal of sexy lovers send Seb and JJ in different directions and unlikely places where they learn how to accept the love hiding in plain sight.

Honorable Mentions: CLOUDBURST ; REMINGTON AND THE CURSE OF THE ZOMBADINGS

Maryam Keshavarz’s debut film is a lush, innovative coming-of-age story set in the underground art scene of Tehran. Iranian teenager Atafeh and her best friend, Shireen, and defining the evolving boundaries of their close friendship when Atafeh’s brother Mehran returns home from a drug rehabilitation center and announces he’s joining the morality police. When he makes the girls’ questionable friendship his target, Atafeh finds herself the focus of her brother’s dangerous obsession.

Honorable Mention: CODEPENDENT LESBIAN SPACE ALIEN SEEKS SAME

Mommy issues reach new heights in this intense, semi-autobiographical study of the widening divide between a single mother and her gay son. Hubert (writer/director Xavier Dolan) is a fractious Montreal high schooler entering a relationship with a classmate and infuriated by everything from his mother’s clothing to the way she chews her food. Trivial bickering veers into vicious (and often hilarious) arguments, revealing the underlying truth: Hubert is growing up and their relationship is entering strange unknown territory. Almodóvar fans will appreciate the dramatic exploration of a modern mother-son relationship.

Honorable Mentions: BEAUTIFUL DARLING ; EDIE & THEA: A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT

The multiple award-winning and unflinching family memoir of a sibling rivalry between a man and a woman… and Orson Welles. The filmmaker Kimberly Reed, who is also a trans woman and former co-captain of her high school football team, goes home for a high school reunion and attempts to smooth things over with her estranged brother Marc. A series of earth-shattering encounters and revelations unfold from Montana to Croatia, forcing Reed and her family to deal with past resentments, gender and sexual identity, a fascinating family history, and an uncertain future.

Timothy is an outcast at an all-boys prep school whose serious crush on handsome jock, Jonathon fuels his technicolor musical theatre-styled daydreams. Convinced by eccentric drama teacher, Ms. Tebbit, to audition for the school’s staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Timothy is perfectly cast as the mischievous sprite, Puck. Inspired by the play to whip up a batch of love potion, he’s surprised when it unexpectedly works – only far too well. Not only has Jonathon fallen in love with him, but his entire small town seems to be under the spell as well! Fantasy and reality collide, bringing wonderfully queer Shakespearean revelry in this fun, whimsical, and audience-award-winning production full of song, dance, and an incredibly talented young cast.

In the New York Premiere of the new film from feminist director Jamie Babbit’s (BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER) provocative ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE, Melonie Diaz is drawn into a feminist guerilla group committed to defacing commercial icons that degrade women. The film also stars Nicole Vicius, Carly Pope, Daniela Sea, Melanie Mayron, and Leslie Grossman.

While the Stonewall Riots signaled the beginning of the gay rights movement in 1969, transgender scholar Susan Stryker has uncovered a hitherto forgotten instance of collective queer resistance that predates that momentous event by three years. In 1966, transgender prostitutes and gay activists in San Francisco fought back against police harassment, resulting in a riot at a late-night cafeteria. Stryker and collaborator Victor Silverman hunted down several people who remember the riot and the events leading up to it, including a policeman who was made a liaison to the LGBT community following the event. SCREAMING QUEENS wonderfully reclaims a piece of our shared history.

Set in contemporary Yorkshire, MY SUMMER OF LOVE is a vibrant tale of two sixteen-year-old girls spending one long, hot English summer together. Freckled and open-faced Mona (Natalie Press) lives and works at the local pub with her brother Phil (Paddy Considine). But Phil has been born again, leading him to shut the pub down in favor of using the space for Bible readings. Increasingly alienated, Mona seeks an escape and finds it in the form of the ethereal and willowy Tamsin (Emily Blunt). The class differences between them are immediately apparent and underscored by Tamsin’s elegant country mansion. Nonetheless, the two girls, drawn together out of boredom, become fast friends, revealing respective secrets and forming a tight bond. But the summer is nearing close… Can Mona and Tamsin remain in this idyllic world for much longer?

Winner of the Vito Russo Award at NewFest 2000, BROTHER TO BROTHER is an intelligent and captivating exploration of gay African-American identity and history. Eighteen-year-old Perry (Anthony Mackie), a talented New York artist, faces daily racism and homophobia. His relationship with white boyfriend Marcus provides a reprieve, but even this ends in disappointment. But when Perry meets an elderly homeless man, he discovers a living connection to the Harlem Renaissance: Bruce Nugent (Roger Robinson). Bruce is a painter, poet, and collaborator with luminaries like Langston Hughes (Daniel Sunjata), Zora Neale Hurston (Aunjanue Ellis), and Wallace Thurman (Ray Ford). Perry reawakens the older man’s spirit and passion for art just as Bruce empowers the younger man with a rich sense of gay African American history.

Honorable Mention: D.E.B.S.

In the charming BLUE GATE CROSSING, director Yee Chih-yen’s sophomore effort following 1995’s LONELY HEARTS CLUB, the confusion and excitement of adolescence and sexuality are experienced by three 17-year-old characters. Serious Ke-rou and pretty Yueh-chen are best friends, but while Yueh-chen daydreams about marrying handsome swimmer Shi-hao, Ke-rou comes to the realization that she’s more interested in Yueh-chen than in any boy. When Yueh-chen asks Ke-rou to act as a go-between with Shi-hao, the boy mistakes the messenger for his admirer and falls for Ke-rou instead. For her part, Ke-rou reacts with ambivalence, using this opportunity to test her suspicions of her lesbianism and to get to know her crush’s crush. Pure naturals, the young actors effortlessly capture that important and exhilarating moment in everyone’s life when adolescence gives way to adulthood.

Honorable Mentions: THE EDGE OF EACH OTHER’S BATTLES: THE VISION OF AUDRE LORDE

Harry Dodge and Silas Howard craft a trans-butch buddy outsider story ahead of its time. An adrift Shy (Howard) wanders into a clumsy life of crime and collides with the dizzying dreams of charismatic Valentine (Dodge), who is searching for the mother he’s never met. The two team up in their own anti-authoritarian way on the outskirts of society, as they perform petty crimes, stir up individual romances, and grow deeply bonded. Through their attempts at a better life, their soul-searching leads them to discover what “chosen family” and radical tenderness means. This SXSW audience award-winner received acclaim at its Sundance 2001 world premiere and features iconic rocker Joan Jett amongst the ensemble of this groundbreaking and enduring achievement.

Honorable Mention: THE COCKETTES

After falling in love with a U.S. Army sergeant, an East Berlin boy named Hansel undergoes a sex-change operation so that he can legally marry his beloved. But the operation is botched, leaving the boy less than a man, but not quite a woman. Deserted in a Kansas trailer park, the boy/girl, now named Hedwig, reinvents himself/herself as a rock star. Based on the hit off-Broadway musical.

Director-writer-star Nisha Ganatra (LATE NIGHT) won multiple Audience Awards on the festival circuit for this feature debut–a heartfelt, expertly-crafted comedy about Reena, an Indian-American lesbian who impulsively decides to have a baby for her infertile older sister. Reena’s enthusiasm isn’t matched by her uptight sister and mother (played by real-life mother and daughter Sakina Jaffrey and Madhur Jaffrey) or her girlfriend (Jill Hennessy), however, and as the plan goes into action it draws out long-simmering tension from all sides of the family, vividly captured by an excellent ensemble cast.

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Honorable Mention: BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER

Rose Troche returned to NewFest’s Opening Night for a second time in 1999 with her feature film, BEDROOMS AND HALLWAYS. In this stylish comedy of manners, Troche takes a distinct departure from her ’94 award-winning debut, GO FISH. Set in London, BEDROOMS AND HALLWAYS follows the inconsolable Leo, a single gay man who has given up all hope of finding a compatible boyfriend. Despite the encouragement of his friends, Leo feels he is destined for a lonely life. Taking the advice of another friend, he is persuaded to join a New Age men’s therapy group, hoping that getting in touch with his inner manhood will help him find “Mr. Right.” When handed the “honesty” stone during one of the group’s male bonding sessions, Leo confesses his attraction for fellow group member Brendan, a handsome Irishman recently separated from his longtime girlfriend. Flattered by the attention, Brendan’s curiosity is sparked, and against the best of odds, the two begin a romance.

In her award-winning debut feature, Lisa Cholodenko casts Ally Sheedy as Lucy Berliner, a reclusive world-renowned photographer who is lured out of her early retirement by the ambitious ingenue Syd (Radha Mitchell), an aspiring assistant editor at a prestigious photography magazine. Idle fascination develops into agonizing passion when Lucy and Syd begin an artistic collaboration that is meant to announce the comeback of the lauded photographer turned junkie. Caught in life’s cruel imitation of art, Syd and Lucy forsake all others as human passion and aesthetic creativity become virtually indistinguishable in their fervent relationship.

CHOCOLATE BABIES is a cinematic cauldron of coolness that bubbles over with fierce queer style and politics. Stephen Winter’s first feature narrates the adventures of the Chocolate Babies, a motley yet sleep crew of HIV-Positive queers of color who function as gay culture’s answer to the Super Friends and the X-Men. But Saturday morning cartoons were never as sexy and right-on as this multi-ethnic, multi-colored live action feature. Marvel at the exploits of these queer avengers as they slap around conservative politicians. Be astonished at the plight of the team’s youngest member, Sam (played by dreamy Jon Lee), as he is seduced by the evil closet queen City Councilman. CHOCOLATE BABIES packs a super-powered punch.

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In her delightful debut feature film, Cheryl Dunye recasts movie history with black lesbians in starring roles. Cheryl, played by Dunye herself, is an aspiring filmmaker who, in her quest to portray lesbian lives on the screen, uncovers “The Watermelon Woman,” a character actress who appeared as “the mammy” in ’30s Hollywood films. Obsessed with this elusive movie figure, Cheryl goes in search of the nameless woman and discovers a life and a love, both shrouded in mystery. Cheryl Dunye received NewFest’s Vito Russo Award in 1995, providing finishing funds for the film.

Honorable Mention: BOUND

This star-studded drag extravaganza brings to the screen one of the most spectacular annual festivals of all time: Wigstock. Barry Shils captures the sheer brilliance of New York’s downtown celebration of peace, love, music, and hair. Weaving (no pun intended) together heart-stopping performances, behind-the-scenes interviews, and hair-raising outfits, WIGSTOCK: THE MOVIE transcends the familiar concert film and creates a cinematic festival of immeasurable proportions. Many of New York’s drag and performance personalities of the 90’s are featured, including RuPaul, Lypsinka, Deee-Lite, Joey Arias, Crystal Waters, Jackie Beat, Alexis Arquette, and The Lady Bunny – Wigstock’s creator, emcee, and diva emeritus.

Sexy and romantic, this dyke-powered feature portrays five twenty-something gals navigating a resoundingly lesbian universe of dating, fashion crises, love, and desire. With scintillating humor and charm, Troché’s brilliantly irreverent first feature charts new territories in its spirited, unapologetic depiction of lesbian life in the ’90s. A girl-meets-girl movie for the whole family, GO FISH is a distinctly regional work from and about queer life in Chicago. Winner of Best Lesbian/Gay Feature at the ’94 Berlin Film Festival

Honorable Mention: FIRST KILL

Part bio-pic of a brilliant philosopher, part allegory of its own queer director, WITTGENSTEIN captures the profound frustration of a man trying to live perfectly in an imperfect world. In translating Ludwig Wittgenstein’s complex philosophy into his own witty cinematic terms, Jarman creates a world of images as starkly eloquent as its subject’s philosophy. Winner of the Best Gay Feature Award at the 1993 Berlin Film Festival, the film features longtime Jarman favorite Tilda Swinton.

This futuristic tale, gorgeously photographed, is filled with post-apocalyptic sex, violence, and outrageous humor for dykes and fags alike. “(A) terrific lesbian film that deserves instant cult status” B. Ruby Rich, The Village Voice.

A moving personal account of a gay filmmaker who used his art to come out. Using the outtakes from NIGHTHAWKS as his departure point, Peck examines just how far we’ve come since the seventies, commemorates those comrades with whom he worked on NIGHTHAWKS who have since died of AIDS, relates the story of his own coming out and how it ties into his development as a filmmakers, and ends the film with an impassioned plea for love, acceptance, and unity within the queer commmunity.

This powerful and moving documentary focuses on five people who have died of AIDS as a symbol for the vast and evergrowing number of others we continue to lose each day. Using interviews, photographs, home movies, and other remembrances, the film celebrates the lives and achievements of people as diverse as 11-year-old hemophilia David Mandell and Robert Perryman, a former intravenous drug addict who became a drug counselor in the last years. Throughout the individual stories, a narration by Dustin Hoffman calmly ticks off increasingly grim statistics of widespread infection and government neglect, giving a political context to the personal focus. Finally, we see the survivors of these five as they come to terms with their loss by means of making memorial panels for their loved ones for the Names Project quilt. COMMON THREADS was the 1989 Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary.

Honorable Mentions: DESERT HEARTS ; PARIS IS BURNING ; JAMES BALDWIN: THE PRICE OF THE TICKET ; TONGUES UNTIED

Buddy is a young man living with his very ordinary family in upstate New York. Up till now, his only source of sexual gratification has been between the covers of Playgirl Magazine. Buddy leaves the small town and heads off to New York. During his first week in the East Village, Buddy finds a new job, new friends, (safe) sexual adventure, and perhaps the beginnings of romance. In a wry and offhand style, FUN DOWN THERE captures the ordinary day-to-day events which in fact make life extraordinary. The primary source of the film’s energy is the filmmakers’ comfortable familiarity with his story and the people in it; simply and unquestioningly he asserts that, no matter how challenging the times, gay life will continue and thrive.

During the 1940’s a racially-mixed all-female band toured the United States, including the deep South. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was more than a novelty act; it was a true jazz band with a crew of exceptionally talented musicians. One of the most visible of these musicians was trumpeter Tiny Davis who, with her lover and partner Ruby Lucas, later left the band and struck out on her own. Today, Tiny and Ruby live in a Chicago suburb, still playing and still raising hell. With candor and humor, TINY AND RUBY: HELL DIVIN’ WOMEN traces the careers and the personal lives of these two talented, gutsy, and remarkable women.