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The romantic drama \u201cIv\u00e1n & Hadoum\u201d will run on Oct. 16 at Newfest.NewFest<\/p>\nNewFest, New York\u2019s LGBTQ Film Festival, is screening nearly 150 features, shorts, and documentaries from around the world Oct. 15-25 at area venues. This year\u2019s program, the festival\u2019s 38th, opens with the highly anticipated Oscar hopeful, \u201cLa Bola Negra.\u201d The film by directors (and former partners) Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, tell three stories about \u201cwhat it means to be gay.\u201d The festival closes 10 days later with a screening of \u201cThe Man I Love,\u201d out gay writer\/director Ira Sachs\u2019 latest drama, starring Oscar-winner Rami Malek as a gay man with AIDS in 1980s New York. In between there are panels and premieres and opportunities to see some forthcoming films including, \u201cMouse,\u201d \u201cClarissa,\u201d \u201cClub Kid,\u201d and \u201cCoward. Here, in alphabetical order, is a rundown of a dozen films screening during the first half of this year\u2019s NewFest.<\/p>\n
Paul Rowley\u2019s galvanizing documentary, \u201cGays Against Guns,\u201d (Oct. 16, 6:45 pm, SVA, and virtual Oct. 15-30) is the filmmaker\u2019s compassionate portrait of the titular activist group that came out against gun violence in response to the Pulse nightclub massacre in 2016. The film shows how Gays Against Guns formed and how members honored survivors by marching in the Pride parade. They also participate in civil disobedience. The activist subgroup Queerz of the Night spray paint messaging across the city and members protest and get arrested as a way of calling attention to their cause. Rowley also interviews the mother of Bailey Reeves, a trans teenager who was killed while out with friends one night, and features Antonius Wiriadjaja recounting how he survived being shot. The film includes some sobering statistics, and Rowley follows the NRA and its money. The group\u2019s success is also shown as the activists have helped change the law. \u201cGays Against Guns\u201d explain why guns are a \u201cgay\u201d issue \u2014 from the danger of queer youth having access to firearms to showing how hate and fear often beget violence. However, Rowley\u2019s film is best at illustrating the power of queer people motivated to change things for the better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The romantic drama \u201cIv\u00e1n & Hadoum\u201d will run on Oct. 16 at Newfest.NewFest<\/p>\n
\u201cIv\u00e1n & Hadoum\u201d\u00a0(Oct. 16, 8:45 pm, SVA) is a sweet romantic drama about the title characters, Iv\u00e1n (Silver), a trans man, and Hadoum (Herminia Loh Moreno), a Moor, in Spain. They work at the same vegetable packing plant, where Iv\u00e1n aspires to become a manager \u2014 to afford a new apartment for him and his cramped family \u2014 while the carefree Hadoum is a packer who moves from job to job. After they kiss on the beach one night, each insists they don\u2019t want to fall in love, but they grow closer despite concerns from each of their families. Things come to a head when the plant they work for is being put up for sale and Iv\u00e1n is asked to keep Hadoum and her fellow packers from sabotaging an audit. \u201cIv\u00e1n & Hadoum\u201d\u00a0is a gentle drama that addresses negative attitudes towards trans people but also gives Iv\u00e1n his dignity. The film benefits from Silver\u2019s assured performance and his chemistry with Herminia Loh Moreno is appealing. Viewers will want them to couple up against the odds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c9 to 5\u201d (Oct. 17, 2:00 pm BAM) will always be better known for Parton\u2019s catchy, Oscar-nominated theme song than her first big screen appearance, but she still sparkles in this female empowerment comedy directed by the late out Colin Higgins. As Doralee Rhodes, the secretary to the \u201csexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot\u201d Franklin Hart, Jr. (Dabney Coleman), Parton knows how to handle her lecherous boss. Sure, she can overlook him deliberately knocking over his pencils to ogle her, but she is righteously angry to learn everyone in the office thinks she is his mistress. And when she does, Doralee threatens to get her gun and change Hart \u201cfrom a rooster to a hen with one shot.\u201d She is also unafraid to hogtie him \u2014 which she does in an act of revenge. \u201c9 to 5\u2033 is played as broadly as its humor, but the film coasts along on the solid chemistry Parton has with her costars, the fabulous Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda.<\/p>\n
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Dolly\u2019s upbeat disposition shines through in a role that fits her like a glove in \u201cSteel Magnolias.\u201dNewFest<\/p>\n
\u201cSteel Magnolias\u201d (Oct. 16, 5:00 pm, BAM) may be pure southern-fried cornpone, but this crowd-pleaser still manages to elicit Dolly\u2019s character, Truvy Jones\u2019 favorite emotion, \u201claughter through tears.\u201d The story concerns the trials and tribulations of six women who frequently congregate at Truvy\u2019s beauty shop in a small Louisiana town. Truvy has just hired newcomer Annelle (Daryl Hannah), when Shelby (Julia Roberts, in an Oscar-nominated performance) comes in with her overprotective mother, M\u2019Lynn (Sally Field) to get her hair done for her wedding. Rounding out the cast are the wealthy Clairee (Olympia Dukakis) and the cantankerous Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine). Dolly delivers sass and home truths effortlessly, fitting into her role as a big-hearted Southern woman who loves gossip and romance and who can \u201cspot a bottle job at twenty paces.\u201d And it\u2019s hard not to smile when she advises, \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as natural beauty. It takes effort to look like this,\u201d possibly acknowledging her own efforts with plastic surgery. But the real joy of Dolly\u2019s performance is watching her bright side things \u2014 especially where there is bad news. Dolly\u2019s upbeat disposition shines through in a role that fits her like a glove.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Will I Become?\u201d (Oct. 16, 8:00 pm, BAM) is a life-affirming documentary by and about trans male youth, focusing on their mental health and the alarming statistic that 50.8% of trans male youth attempt suicide. Co-directors Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos ask each other, \u201cWhat do you want to become?\u201d before presenting two case studies of trans youth suicides. In North Carolina, Blake Brockington, seen in video footage, inspired others, but he also generated backlash when he ran for \u2014 and won \u2014 homecoming king in his high school. Blake also enjoyed playing rugby, saying it made him feel good and accepted, however, he was ultimately denied the opportunity to play because he was trans. In San Diego, the parents of Kyler Prescott cope with the aftermath of their son\u2019s suicide, and address the issues they had with Kyler\u2019s school, therapists, and hospitals who treated him poorly. One of the film\u2019s most touching episodes is an animated sequence featuring one of Kyler\u2019s poems being sung. \u201cWhat Will I Become?\u201d emphasizes that trans people are vulnerable, but not alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are featured in Jennifer Kroot\u2019s documentary.NewFest<\/p>\n
\u201cHunky Jesus\u201d (Oct. 17 8:30 pm, SVA) is Jennifer Kroot\u2019s celebratory documentary on the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who host an annual Easter event. Chronicling the 2023 contest in Dolores Park where the Sisters crown a Hunky Jesus and Foxy Mary, the film also charts the origins of the Sisters \u2014 activists who create joy and expiate stigmatic guilt, as well as raise money for charities and provide support for AIDS patients and organizations. While the Hunky Jesus event may be seen as blasphemous by some\u2014and Kroot gives some screen time to the offended\u2014the film shows the irreverence that answers the question, \u201cWhat is sexy about Easter.\u201d The interviews with co-hosts Sister Roma and Saint Honey Mahogany are amusing and the winner definitely deserved his crown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of the Woods\u201d (Oct. 18, 4:00 pm, SVA) is writer\/director Sal Bardo\u2019s sincere drama about Max (Frances Fisher) reconnecting with her old friend Diana (Mimi Kennedy) after a long time apart. However, Max, who loved Diana, and saved all her letters, married Charlie (Bruce Davison), instead of following her heart. Now, facing mild cognitive impairment issues, Max wants to rekindle things with Diana, who drops by to smoke weed, or invites Max over to see her paintings. The women, who could have been together in the past, now must navigate the lives they have in the present and the ones they want moving forward. \u201cOut of the Woods\u201d is a thoughtful chamber drama, but there are a few too many pregnant pauses. Bardo also features a metaphor-heavy sequence of Max stuck in the woods. But there is a nice visual of images playing in the background when Max recalls a cherished memory and Fisher delivers a solid turn here. She also gets fine support from her co-stars, Kennedy and the underused Davison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For tickets and more information, visit https:\/\/newfest.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n