NewFest

Latest reviews

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  Before I Do

  Review preview for Before I Do

  There’s an intelligent dissection of ideas going on here, and an acknowledgement of the frequent mismatch between ideals and emotions.

  A young man invites his closest group of gay pals to a remote cabin in the Berkshires to celebrate his upcoming marriage, but between the catching up, skinny-dipping, and Meryl Streep karaoke, old flames and new secrets start to come out.
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  La Bola Negra

  Review preview for La Bola Negra

  La Bola Negra was an unfinished work in a life cut short but the film named (variously) for it is extension and tribute and triumph.

  Drama exploring the inter-connected lives of three gay men.
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  Elsinore

  Review preview for Elsinore

  Scott’s beacon of light is swallowed up by Stone and Beresford’s heavy-handedness.

  Account of Ian Charleson’s life, capturing the moment when he faced his own mortality as he prepared to play Hamlet at the Royal National Theatre.
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  Gays Against Guns

  Review preview for Gays Against Guns

  There is throughout this film a driving positive energy, a commitment to turning frustration into action.

  Following the outrageous activist group Gays Against Guns, the film takes us on a rollercoaster through neon-splashed street protests and the ivory corridors of power.
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  I Am Going To Miss You

  Review preview for I Am Going To Miss You

  Ribeiro finds something beautiful in fragility and rawness.

  When a transgender couple move in together, differences quickly surface. One seeks stability while the other seeks something more.
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  Corpus

  Review preview for Corpus

  Much more tightly structured than its style might suggest, and much, much darker.

  Three young men travel to a remote house on the promise of a party, to find just three women who have a secret and sinister agenda.
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  La Gradiva

  Review preview for La Gradiva

  Pompeii becomes a place where fantasy is tested against historical violence, and where looking too closely can break the story one came to preserve.

  A group of French high-school students travel to Naples on a school trip to discover the ruins of Pompeii and the bodies petrified by Vesuvius. There, they are drawn into a dizzying descent.
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  Montreal, My Beautiful

  Review preview for Montreal, My Beautiful

  Desire does not arrive here as a clean break from domestic life. It appears as a tremor inside it.

  Feng Xia lives a life of dutiful servitude to her husband, children and community of Chinese ex-pats. When she finally decides to put herself first, and explore the sexuality that she has long concealed, she meets the free-spirited Camille.
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  What Will I Become?

  Review preview for What Will I Become?

  It does not explain trans pain from the outside. It sits with it, listens to it, and tries to make room for it without exploiting it.

  Kyler Prescott and Blake Brockington were just two high-profile examples of approximately 50% of trans boys in the US who did not survive a suicide attempt. This film highlights the importance of combating prejudice and prioritising prevention among trans youth.
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  Hunky Jesus

  Review preview for Hunky Jesus

  Through archival material and present-day interviews, Kroot traces how the Sisters became a crucial presence in San Francisco, particularly during the AIDS epidemic, when joy, care, protest, and mutual aid were matters of survival rather than branding.

  The story of the wildly popular, annual Easter Sunday tradition in San Francisco known as Hunky Jesus.

A–Z of NewFest 2026 reviews →

Features

• Nothing is impossible
  Paul Rowley on moving to New York, the Pulse massacre, and Gays Against Guns
• The yearning
  Corrin Evans, Lily Cowles, Jeff Wahlberg and Michael Vlamis on Corpus
• Remodelling masculinity
  Logan Rozos and Lexie Bean on young trans men and What Will I Become?