Skip to main content

NewFest · 2021

NewFest 2021

Documentary Features

Programme

11 films · 5 reviews

Jump to a film

Aids Diva: The Legend Of Connie Norman

Seizing her power as she confronts her mortality, trailblazing trans activist Connie Norman evolves as an irrepressible, challenging and soulful voice for the AIDS and queer communities of early Nineties Los Angeles.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Dante Alencastre; Stars: Connie Norman)

Being Bebe

A documentary about the incredible rise of the first ever winner of RuPaul's Drag Race: the legendary BeBe Zahara Benet.

(Country: US, Cameroon; Year: 2021; Director: Emily Branham; Stars: Nea Marshall Kudi)

Being Thunder

Review preview for Being Thunder

Through her focus on what might seem like a narrow issue, Lamorre mines a rich vein of history.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A a two-spirit genderqueer teenager from the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island, explores what it means to be a queer Indigenous person in a world bound by binary gender roles.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Stephanie Lamorre)

Full review See: Interview with Stephanie Lamorre about Being Thunder

Bring Down The Walls

Explores the prison industrial complex through the lens of house music and nightlife.

(Country: US, Germany; Year: 2020; Director: Phil Collins)

Caught (Caer)

A collaborative experimental documentary using fictional and nonfiction filmmaking methods to express the struggles for justice of transgender Latina women working in the NYC sex industry.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Nicola Mai; Writer: Nicola Mai, Liaam Winslet; Stars: Nayra Lee Berrios, Lorena Borjas, Mayra Colon, Jennifer Orellana Delgado)

Drag Invasion

A documentary about what happened when RuPaul's Drag Race arrived in Lima, Peru.

(Country: Peru; Year: 2020; Director: Alberto Castro; Stars: Tany de la Riva, Georgia Hart)

Make Me Famous (The Brezinski Project)

Review preview for Make Me Famous

In telling the story of a man hitherto forgotten by history, director Brian Vincent captures a side of that celebrated scene never seen before, putting all the rest in context and exploring the nature of fame from an unusual perspective.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A madcap romp through the 1980s NYC art scene amid the colorful career of painter, Edward Brezinski, hell-bent on making it.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2021; Director: Brian Vincent; Stars: David McDermott, Marguerite Van Cook, James Romberger, Peter McGough, Frank Holliday, Claudia Summers)

Full review See: Interview with Brian Vincent about Edward Brezinski and Make Me Famous

Miguel's War

Review preview for Miguel's War

One of the most impressive documentaries of the year.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A portrait of a gay man who confronts the ghosts of his past. After fleeing war and repression 37 years ago, Miguel returns to Lebanon where he traces hidden longings, unrequited love and tormenting feelings of guilt.

(Country: Lebanon, Germany, Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Eliane Raheb; Writer: Eliane Raheb; Stars: Miguel Jleilaty)

Full review See: Interview with Eliane Raheb about Miguel’s War

Raw! Uncut! Video!

A documentary chronicling the rise and fall of homegrown gay porn studio Palm Drive Video.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Alex Clausen, Ryan A White; Stars: Susie Bright, Darryl Carlton, Rick Castro, Susan Damante, Durk Dehner, Roger Earl)

Rebel Dykes

Review preview for Rebel Dykes

A piece that is deeply personal, punk in its aesthetic, and all the more powerful for both.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Documentary about the underground lesbian scene in London in the Eighties.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Harri Shanahan, Siân A Williams)

Full review

Sediments

Review preview for Sediments

In its quiet, observational way, Sediments gets closer to the experience of what it means to be trans than any number of more direct interrogations.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Just as the Earth is, our inner selves are made up of many layers that make up our identity and tell the story of our existence.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Adrian Silvestre; Writer: Adrian Silvestre; Stars: Alicia de Benito, Lena Brasas, Cristina Millán)

Full review