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Festival coverage

NewFest

12 October – 24 October 2023

The 35th Annual New York LGBTQ+ film festival, Newfest includes over a dozen premières and will open with George C Wolfe’s Rustin, with Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers bringing it to a close.

We're still adding details to this page, so check back for updates and to see our coverage as it comes in.

The festival runs from 12 to 24 October.

Other years (7)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes
    Review preview for Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes

    A thorough, well-told tale intertwined with many of the key social and artistic movements of that century – and dotted with its luminaries – Hidden Master brings Lynes back out into the light.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A documentary about the fashion photographer whose rare artistic vision became apparent when he focused his attention on male nudes.
  • Orlando, My Political Biography
    Review preview for Orlando, My Political Biography

    Capturing the experience of living in a world where one’s gender doesn’t fit better than almost any other film to date, Preciado’s work is all about claiming space and present day narrative.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Docufiction interpretation of Virginia Woolf's novel.
  • Nyad
    Review preview for Nyad

    The film undercuts the pop psychology associated with sporting success, clearing the space in which to attempt a more honest account.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    The remarkable true story of marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, who, at the age of 60, set out to become the first person to complete the 'Everest of swims', a 53-hour, 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida through dangerous open ocean without a shark cage.
  • Rustin
    Review preview for Rustin

    It’s difficult to imagine the famously shrewd yet antagonistic Rustin being better cast.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    The story of gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who organised the 1963 March on Washington.
  • Monster
    Review preview for Monster

    A beautifully constructed piece of work in which every detail serves the whole, putting the tools of the epic at the disposal of a story which is intimate and delicately realised.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A mother is shocked when she learns what a teacher has said to her son, but the truth is more complicated.
  • Eileen
    Review preview for Eileen

    There are so many shots through things, boundaries, borders, thresholds, that we are primed for other barriers crossed. Those transgressions are not light ones, but in them is an abject honesty.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counsellor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.
  • All Of Us Strangers
    Review preview for All Of Us Strangers

    Protagonist Adam (Andrew Scott) lives in a neatly furnished home, no longer feels the need to hide his sexuality, and tells himself he’s fine, but the music says otherwise.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A screenwriter embarks on a relationship with a neighbour at the same time as making a journey into his troubled past.
  • The Mattachine Family
    Review preview for The Mattachine Family

    This is one of those very Californian tales in which the problems that most people in the world have to deal with simply don’t exist.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Thomas and Oscar have spent a year as foster parents to a wonderful child, a calling that's shown them new dimensions of what 'family' can mean. However, when the young boy is reunited with his birth mother, the couple's differing views on what the experience meant come into focus.
  • Mother Saigon
    Review preview for Mother Saigon

    It is very much an insider’s perspective and brings to the fore the sort of everyday issues that anyone, anywhere might relate to.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A love letter to the mosaic of queer lives in Saigon, a city that is as liberating as it is oppressive.
  • Housekeeping For Beginners
    Review preview for Housekeeping For Beginners

    For all the apparent chaos, this is a tightly controlled piece of work which fully delivers on the promise of Stolevski’s earlier films.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A lesbian suddenly finds herself responsible for her partner’s two daughters.

A–Z of NewFest 2023 reviews

Features