Film fans are heading to New York for NewFest, the city’s LGBTQ film festival, where nearly 150 features, shorts and documentaries offer an unusually broad cinematic snapshot. From activist documentaries and trans coming-of-age stories to Dolly Parton favourites, these early festival picks mix urgency, warmth and plenty of crowd-pleasing sparkle.

Essential Takeaways

  • A packed programme: NewFest presents almost 150 films across New York venues, with further viewing available online for selected titles.
  • A strong opening: The festival launches with La Bola Negra, an anticipated Spanish drama from Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi.
  • Stories with purpose: Gays Against Guns and What Will I Become? explore activism, trans lives and the consequences of violence.
  • Plenty of joy: Hunky Jesus, 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias bring humour, camp and emotional release.
  • A useful viewing tip: Check each film's venue, time and format before booking, as screenings are spread across New York and some have virtual runs.

NewFest brings queer cinema into sharp focus

There’s something wonderfully direct about a festival that can move from a documentary about gun violence to a Dolly Parton comedy without losing its sense of purpose. NewFest does exactly that, presenting LGBTQ stories as expansive, funny, political, romantic and occasionally gloriously chaotic.

The festival’s 38th edition runs from 15 to 25 October at venues across New York, with almost 150 features, shorts and documentaries in the programme. NewFest’s official listings also underline the scale of the event, which combines premieres, talks and special screenings rather than treating queer cinema as a single, tidy category.

This year’s opening film, La Bola Negra, gives the festival a high-profile start. Reporting on the film’s wider reception, El Pais has described the work by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi as a powerful engagement with queer memory, history and the legacy of Federico Garcia Lorca.

The documentaries are where the urgency lands

Paul Rowley’s Gays Against Guns follows the activist group formed in response to the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre. It looks at demonstrations, civil disobedience and the personal experiences that turn public grief into organised action. The film’s emotional force comes from that connection between individual testimony and collective pressure.

Its subjects include survivors, families and activists confronting the effects of gun violence in queer communities. Rather than presenting protest as a polished campaign machine, the documentary shows the friction, exhaustion and courage involved in trying to change policy. It’s a sobering watch, but also an encouraging one.

What Will I Become?, made by Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos, takes a similarly serious path while focusing on trans male youth and mental health. The film examines the lives and deaths of Blake Brockington and Kyler Prescott, alongside the failures and pressures surrounding schools, healthcare and family support.

There’s pain here, but the documentary isn’t interested in reducing trans young people to statistics. Its use of personal memories, video footage and animation gives the story a more intimate texture. For viewers choosing films for their social impact, this is one of the clearest early NewFest recommendations.

Romance arrives in quieter, more complicated forms

Not every film needs a rallying cry. Iván & Hadoum offers a gentler kind of queer storytelling, following a trans man and a Moorish woman who work at the same vegetable-packing plant in Spain. Their attraction develops against workplace tensions, family expectations and financial strain.

The film’s appeal lies in its modesty. Iván wants greater stability, while Hadoum moves more freely through life, and their differences create as much friction as chemistry. The result is a tender romantic drama that gives its characters room to be hopeful without pretending prejudice and insecurity disappear overnight.

There’s a more reflective mood in Out of the Woods, Sal Bardo’s drama about Max and Diana, former friends whose relationship might once have become something more. Now, with Max experiencing mild cognitive impairment, the two women have to reckon with old feelings, missed chances and the lives they actually built.

It’s a chamber piece with a deliberately unhurried pace, so it won’t suit every viewer. Still, Frances Fisher’s performance gives the story emotional weight, while Mimi Kennedy adds warmth to a relationship shaped as much by memory as desire. Sometimes the most affecting queer dramas are about timing, not grand declarations.

Camp, comedy and classic comfort viewing

Jennifer Kroot’s Hunky Jesus brings a much brighter energy. The documentary follows the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and their annual Easter celebration in San Francisco, where participants compete to become Hunky Jesus or Foxy Mary.

The event is playful, provocative and proudly theatrical, but the film also traces the Sisters’ activism, charitable work and support for people affected by AIDS. That combination is the point: the laughter isn’t an escape from politics, it’s part of how the community builds visibility and solidarity.

For a reliable dose of crowd-pleasing entertainment, 9 to 5 remains difficult to beat. Colin Higgins’ workplace comedy has Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin turning office sexism into broad, satisfying revenge fantasy, with Parton’s performance supplying much of the film’s easy charm.

Steel Magnolias offers a different kind of release. Its beauty-shop setting, Southern humour and emotional swings can feel unapologetically old-fashioned, but the cast knows how to make melodrama land. Dolly Parton’s warmth is especially infectious, giving the film a soft centre beneath all the gossip, hairspray and tears.

How to choose your NewFest screening

If you want the most politically charged option, start with Gays Against Guns or What Will I Become? Both films connect personal stories to wider systems, making them good choices for viewers looking for documentaries that stay with you after the credits.

For romance, Iván & Hadoum is the more hopeful choice, while Out of the Woods suits anyone in the mood for something quieter and more bittersweet. If you’re planning a group outing, Hunky Jesus, 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias offer easier entry points, with plenty to discuss afterwards.

It’s also worth checking the practical details carefully. NewFest’s programme is distributed across venues including SVA and BAM, and individual films have different screening times and formats. The festival’s official information is the best place to confirm availability, while coverage from Cinema Tropical highlights the wider importance of Latinx and Latin American cinema within NewFest’s programming.

The most appealing thing about the line-up is its range. There’s no single way to tell an LGBTQ story, and NewFest seems happiest when it lets political documentaries, tender dramas, studio classics and flamboyant celebrations share the same screen.

Explore the programme, choose your mood and leave room for one unexpected favourite.

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