Nukhufest hosted seven days of screenings, Q&As, panels and workshops, and featured \u201cNew York Stories\u201d blocks \u2014 screenings dedicated to short stories from local filmmakers.<\/p>\n
Launched in 2016, Nukhufest creator Sanjay Singh wanted to provide solutions for independent filmmakers that went beyond traditional festival circuits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started the festival out of necessity,\u201d Singh told BK Reader. The business model, he said, is now more important than ever, as access to distribution and audience attention has become more consolidated among a small number of platforms and distributors.<\/p>\n
On the streaming platform, Nukhu<\/a>, filmmakers retain their rights, participate non-exclusively and receive 50 percent of revenue from purchases. Additionally, the winners from Nukhufest receive a development and distribution grant, giving them cash and comprehensive support for their next project.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n StoopStories: Honoring Brooklyn\u2019s Stoop Culture<\/p>\n \u201cStoop Chat with Maani & Mr. Sweat<\/a>\u201d was selected as a semi-finalist at the 2026 festival. The episode pairs together two Bed-Stuy residents \u2014 Vietnam veteran Mr. Sweat and 17-year-old Maani \u2014 to chat about their goals in life, their ties to the neighborhood and more.<\/p>\n At Maani’s age, Mr. Sweat was being shipped off to serve in the war.<\/p>\n By the end of the episode, Mr. Sweat teaches Maani how to play Stoopball, a game that he remembers as an important aspect of stoop culture throughout his years in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n The short film is part of StoopStories<\/a> \u2013 a nonprofit that connects neighbors across New York to celebrate stoop culture.<\/p>\n Marj Kleinman, StoopStories creator, grew up spending time on her stoop in Boerum Hill. Kleinman noted that despite a small resurgence during the pandemic, stoop culture is not what it used to be.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was a kid, we were always out on the stoop playing games and watching the neighbors and getting to know each other,\u201d Kleinman said. \u201cIt was really important to me to be a part of this movement to bring stoop culture back.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, Kleinman remains living in her childhood brownstone in Brooklyn. Despite a busy schedule, working on \u201cStoopStories\u201d has reminded her to make more time for her neighbors, as busyness often stands in the way of neighborhood connection.<\/p>\n Fighting Spaces: Shining Light on Queer Subculture<\/p>\n Patricio Matos became a filmmaker in what he describes as \u201ca pretty unique way.\u201d<\/p>\n Matos went from working as a janitor for Vice News to having his pitches picked up by HBO.<\/p>\n Matos\u2019 first independent short film, \u201cFighting Spaces,\u201d follows Doc, founder of the New York\/Northeast chapter of Onyx.<\/p>\n Onyx is an organization that builds communities for Black and Brown men within the LGBTQ+ kink, leather and BDSM community. Much of its recruitment and programming takes place in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n Through the filmmaking process, Matos learned a lot about the history of Onyx as a subculture within the gay community.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like the subcultures that make up the LGBT community are really what is the foundation of who we are,\u201d Matos said.<\/p>\n According to Matos, much of what drove subculture in the past was needing a place to belong.<\/p>\n \u201cNow it\u2019s expanding into a place of acceptance and openness. And I feel like there should be a light shown to that aspect of it,\u201d Matos said.<\/p>\n The film blends archival footage, interviews and cinematic scenes of boxing to weave together multiple components of Doc\u2019s story: discovering identity, redefining his own sexuality and building community.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Them That\u2019s Not \u2014 Community and Inconvenience<\/p>\n For long-time Brooklyn and Queens resident Mekai Lee, film is used as a way to challenge viewers to think about language barriers not between strangers, but within family settings.<\/p>\n \u201cThem That\u2019s Not\u201d follows Drea, a deaf, young, aspiring poet at a family gathering, who is navigating those language barriers and avoiding confrontation with her estranged father.<\/p>\n Lee uses creative techniques to put the viewer in the main character\u2019s shoes. Subtitles reading \u201c???\u201d appear across the screen when dialogue isn\u2019t clear enough to read lips.<\/p>\n Audio dramatically fades in when dialogue faces away from Drea, giving the viewer access to something that she does not have. At other points, audio fades out when she turns away from the faces around her, forcing the audience to follow her decision to disengage.<\/p>\n Mekai Lee\u2019s film career started when making a web series about three friends in Brooklyn. He and his crew always would say that Brooklyn itself was the fourth friend. Brooklyn\u2019s resilience, Lee said, was infectious.<\/p>\n After making the web series, the transition to solo film projects happened quickly. Lee won a grant from NewFest titled \u201cSound and Scene,\u201d designed for QTBIPOC filmmakers who understand the power of music within storytelling.<\/p>\n With \u201cThem That\u2019s Not,\u201d Lee wanted to force the audience to lean in a little bit closer.<\/p>\n His film does just that. Lee forces the audience to lean, to catch a glimpse of the inconvenience necessary to not only make connections, but to maintain the ones we often take for granted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe price of a community,\u201d Lee said, \u201cis often an inconvenience.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStoopStories\u201d, \u201cThem That\u2019s Not,\u201d and \u201cFighting Spaces\u201d can be viewed online through Nukhu streaming service<\/a>. More information about 2026 films can be found at https:\/\/www.nukhufoundation.org\/nukhufest<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooklyn-based storytellers and stories made their mark at the week-long festival, bringing 50 films from 20 countries to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-354893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"dsc_0299\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/dsc_0299.JPG;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nMarj Kleinman (middle) with other filmmakers and crew at 2026 Nukhu Fest. Photo: Supplied\/ Sanjay Singh
<\/p>\n![\"fighting_spaces_doc_1920x1080_h264_texted01_03_19_18still039\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fighting_spaces_doc_1920x1080_h264_texted01_03_19_18still039.png;w=960.png\"\/)
\nStill from Patricio Matos’ “Fighting Spaces.” Photo: Supplied\/ Patricio Matos
<\/p>\n![\"themthatsnotfilmposter\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/themthatsnotfilmposter.JPG;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nFilm poster for “Them That’s Not.” Photo: Supplied\/ Mekhai Lee
<\/p>\n