The thing about film festivals is they’re often not very good. Think about the sheer math on it: One festival, 100 movies… How many movies did you really love out of the last 100 you saw?
So quite possibly the best thing to happen to film festivals in the last decade is being forced to go digital. Watching a bad movie at home is infinitely superior to spending two hours at a theatre: The bathroom breaks alone make the disappointing popcorn experience more palatable. And now you can test it out for yourself, when the 32nd NewFest, the LGBTQ festival based out of New York City, shares its wares online nationwide October 16-27, 2020. (In addition to over 120 new films, there will be the usual assortment of panels and conversations around LGBTQ+ topics.)
Some of the more interesting titles look to be opening night’s Ammonite, in which straight actors Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan play lovers; Alan Ball’s Uncle Frank, starring straight actor Paul Bettany as a gay uncle who takes a road trip with his niece; straight actor Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) playing gay in Monsoon; and Nora Highland, about the casting of straight actors in a gay role in an upcoming Broadway revival, written and directed by gay performer Ryan Spahn. There will also be a special 25th anniversary screening of Bloodsisters: Leather, Dykes, and Sadomasochism, the 1995 documentary about the San Francisco leather scene, as well as new documentaries about Keith Haring, and Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote (all gay!).
For ticket information and a full line-up of films, visit www.newfest.org,
