The 37th annual New York City LGBTQ film festival NewFest opened on October 9, 2025, embracing the theme 'queer film is an act of rebellion.' As the city's largest LGBTQ+ film festival, NewFest has long been a vital platform for queer voices, and this year’s programming and atmosphere resonate powerfully with the spirit of resistance and visibility. David Hatkoff, NewFest’s executive director, articulated the significance of the moment ahead of the festival’s opening, emphasising the necessity for the LGBTQ+ community to raise its voice and assert its presence amid ongoing societal marginalisation. 'We need to be telling the world and those who would like to marginalize us or erase us entirely that we’re not going anywhere,' Hatkoff said, underscoring the festival's mission to create a communal space where joy itself becomes an act of defiance.
Among this year’s standout offerings is the NSFW dark comedy Fucktoys [pictured], a bold and unapologetic queer narrative written and directed by Annapurna Sriram. The film follows a stripper and sex worker navigating a surreal, fictional locale known as Trashtown, seeking to break a mysterious curse with the help of a tarot card reader played by Big Freedia. Described by Hatkoff as perfectly embodying the festival’s theme, the film encourages audiences to laugh loudly and defiantly in the face of adversity. Fucktoys also features Brandon Flynn, known for his work on 13 Reasons Why, portraying James Francone, an actor who indulges in a flirtation with kink and secrecy by hiring a trans male sex worker for an explicit rendezvous. Flynn’s candid discussion of his role—and the risqué fisting scene involving a rubber jockstrap and a gold-painted penis extender—reveals his intention to push boundaries and dismantle the hypocrisies of hidden lives behind Hollywood’s facade. He reflected on the dual worlds many performers inhabit, noting, 'There are these hypocrisies and dual worlds and infrastructures and systems that are constantly in friction with each other.'
Flynn’s artistic ambitions extend beyond this provocative role. He is soon to star in Willy and Jimmy Dean, a biopic exploring the purported gay college romance between the legendary James Dean and screenwriter William Bast, based on Bast’s memoir Surviving James Dean. Flynn attributes the historic silence surrounding Dean’s queerness to widespread homophobia and the actor’s massive status as a masculine icon, which often overshadows his more vulnerable truths. 'James Dean is what a real man is. But he was also emotional. I think that shakes people, especially people’s fragile heterosexuality,' Flynn explained. He regards his openness about his own sexuality as both a personal and professional responsibility, proud to be an out actor who challenges industry stigma and representation. Source: Noah Wire Services