NewFest is The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival put on by The New Festival, Inc., and you should know that it is one of the most comprehensive forums of national and international LGBT film/video in the world.
They are about to reimagine queer film canon with a special weekend online celebration of queer BIPOC stories all starting Friday, May 7th From punk-anarchist activism to popcorn pleasures, this genre-spanning program surveys systemic injustice, intergenerational dialogue, and family bonds (both biological and chosen) while amplifying vital voices. These stories of relationships and rebellion in New York City offer romance, scathing satire, and intimate portraits from Staten Island to the Bronx.
Taking its title from the incantatory chant which begins Marlon Riggs’ experimental documentary TONGUES UNTIED, this empowering drama stars Anthony Mackie as an art student contending with racism and homophobia who, through a friendship with an older Black, gay poet, discovers the hidden histories of the queer African-American artists who came before him. Vividly bringing to life the world and personalities of the Harlem Renaissance – from Langston Hughes to Zora Neale Hurston – BROTHER TO BROTHER beautifully portrays the shared struggles between generations in this recipient of the 2004 NewFest Vanguard Award and the Special Jury Prize from Sundance.
A band of queer, self-described “raging, atheist, meat-eating, HIV-positive, colored terrorists” fight back against homophobic conservative politicians on the streets of New York in Stephen Winter’s wild guerrilla satire. Calling out government apathy to the AIDS crisis – particularly as it affected communities of color – CHOCOLATE BABIES blends exuberant camp and searing political anger into a radical statement of Black queer power in this NewFest and SXSW award-winner.
CHUTNEY POPCORN Director Nisha Ganatra (Late Night, Cosmopolitan) won multiple Audience Awards on the festival circuit for this feature debut – an expertly crafted comedy about Reena, an Indian-American lesbian who impulsively decides to have a baby for her infertile older sister. Reena’s enthusiasm about being a surrogate 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.
Bronx native Rashaad Ernesto Green made his feature debut with this gritty family drama GUN HILL ROAD. After three years in prison, Enrique returns to the Bronx to discover that his wife has grown distant and his child, Vanessa, is saving up for gender reassignment surgery. Torn between rigid ideas of masculinity and his desire to reconnect with his family, Enrique’s frustrated attempts at bonding fuel a backslide that may threaten his parole. Harmony Santana gives a standout Gotham & Indie Spirit Award-nominated debut performance as Vanessa, capturing the vulnerability and complexity of transitioning while coming of age.
Taiwanese-born new media visionary Shu Lea Cheang directs this avant-anarcho eco-satire in which a lesbian couple living on Staten Island find themselves ensnared in a conspiracy involving a ghost ship of nuclear refuse, ominous television commercials, and deadly cat food. Envisioning New York City as a toxic waste dump of consumerist detritus, FRESH KILL offers a bracing, queer feminist response to the patriarchal poison of corporate capitalism.
Weekend Lineup: • BROTHER TO BROTHER + Q&A • CHOCOLATE BABIES + Q&A • CHUTNEY POPCORN + Q&A • FRESH KILL + Q&A • GUN HILL ROAD + Q&A Individual Film — $10* Weekend Pass — $18*
