Skip to main content

NewFest · 2022

NewFest 2022

Documentary Features

Programme

16 films · 9 reviews

Jump to a film

All Man: The International Male Story

Review preview for All Man: The International Male Story

There are a lot of interesting ideas swirling around in this film.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A peek behind the pages and personalities of International Male, one of the most ubiquitous and sought-after US mail-order catalogues of the Eighties and Nineties.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Bryan Darling, Jesse Finley Reed; Writer: Peter Jones; Stars: Matt Bomer, Carson Kressley)

Full review

Black As U R

Review preview for Black As U R

At the core of the film is an exploration of the intersectional issues faced by Black LGBTQ+ people

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A kaleidoscopic journey through the fault lines of race, gender, history and sexuality in America, focuses on the intersectional lives of black queer people fighting for equality within their own community.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Micheal Rice; Writer: Micheal Rice; Stars: Micheal Rice, Michael Roberson, Charlene Sinclair)

Full review See: Interview with Micheal Rice about Black As U R

The Cockettes

The story of the uproarious, gender-subversive Hippy drag troupe that became one of the ultimate countercultural happenings of the San Francisco.

(Country: US; Year: 2002; Director: Bill Weber, David Weissman; Writer: David Weissman)

Esther Newton Made Me Gay

Esther Newton was drawn to the drag scene as a student in the 1950s. Identifying as both butch lesbian and between genders, she felt a kinship with the queens; what the feminine clothing society expected her to wear felt like a form of drag.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Jean Carlomusto; Stars: Esther Newton)

Jimmy In Saigon

Review preview for Jimmy In Saigon

Deftly edited with an eye for detail, this is a personal story which reminds us that history is comprised not simply of great events but of human experiences.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
The director goes in search of the truth about his brother Jimmy, a Vietnam veteran, who died in Saigon at the age of 24 and whose parents never explained how it happened, rarely mentioning his name.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Peter McDowell; Writer: Peter McDowell)

Full review

Keep The Cameras Rolling: The Pedro Zamora Way

The story of Pedro Zamora, the charming young activist who transformed the face of AIDS in America by allowing MTV's Real World to chronicle his joy, his influence, and his journey with a disease that would ultimately kill him.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: William T Horner, Stacey Woelfel; Writer: Colleen Andrae, Claire Colby, Ellen Goodrich; Stars: Judd Winick, Pam Ling, Cory Murphy, Mohammed Bilal, Rachjel Campos-Duffy, Bill Clinton)

Lotus Sports Club

Review preview for Lotus Sports Club

Packed full of richly observed detail.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The story of Leak, a teenage trans man who plays football in the under-21s women's team of Kampong Chhnang, and Pa Vann, the coach and father-figure to Leak and other LGBTQ+ players on the team.

(Country: Netherlands, Cambodia; Year: 2022; Director: Tommaso Colognese, Vanna Hem; Writer: Tommaso Colognese, Vanna Hem, Martina Serafin)

Full review

Mama's Boy

A documentary about what happened after Dustin Lance Black came out as gay to his mother, a conservative Mormon woman from the American South, who drew on her experience of being crippled by polio to try to understand.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Laurent Bouzereau; Writer: Dustin Lance Black; Stars: Dustin Lance Black)

Mama Bears

Review preview for Mama Bears

Kyi has a sharp eye for the little details of people’s homes and unconscious behaviours which enrich our understanding of who they are.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary about two conservative, Christian mothers who have become fierce advocates for LGBTQ+ people—and a young lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance exemplifies why the mama bears are so important.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Daresha Kyi)

Full review

Nelly & Nadine

Review preview for Nelly & Nadine

The love story is remarkable in its own right but the film also shows the way these sorts of histories could be hidden in plain sight.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The story of two women who fell in love whilst imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp.

(Country: Sweden, Belgium, Norway; Year: 2022; Director: Magnus Gertten; Writer: Magnus Gertten)

Full review

Out In The Ring

A documentary exploring the rise and history of LGBTQ+ professional wrestlers and representation in the sport.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Ry Levey)

The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlisle

Decades after Tanya Tucker slipped from the spotlight, music star Brandi Carlile takes it upon herself to write an entire album for her hero based on Tanya's extraordinary life, spurring the greatest comeback in country music history.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Kathlyn Horan; Writer: Kathlyn Horan; Stars: Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker)

A Run For More

Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe is running for City Council in San Antonio. With 23 years of political activism under her belt, a husband who served in Afghanistan, and a successful corporate track record, it’s hard to see why she might not be a popular choice. But Frankie is a proud, Latinx, trans woman, and in Texas, it makes an uphill political battle something vastly more personal

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Rsy Whitehouse; Stars: Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe, Jeff Wolfe)

Tramps!

Review preview for Tramps!

What could have been just another exercise in nostalgia instead emerges as a valuable picture of a grassroots creative movement.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Rising from the nihilistic ashes of the punk movement in the late 1970s, a fresh crowd of flamboyant fashionistas, who would later be christened the New Romantics, began to materialise on the streets of London.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Kevin Hegge; Stars: Judy Blame, Duggie Fields, Princess Julia)

Full review See: Interview with Kevin Hegge about Tramps!

Uýra - The Rising Forest (Uyra - The Rising Forest)

Review preview for Uýra - The Rising Forest

Brilliantly made.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
Indigenous artist Uýra harnesses the interconnecting power of their native, queer, and trans identities to blaze a trail of ecological activism and LGBTQ+ pride through the villages and cities of the Amazon.

(Country: Brazil, US; Year: 2022; Director: Juliana Curi; Writer: Juliana Curi, Martina Sönksen; Stars: Uýra Sodoma, Zahy Guajajara)

Full review See: Interview with Juliana Curi about Uýra – The Rising Forest