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NewFest · 2023

NewFest 2023

Documentary Features

Programme

13 films · 4 reviews

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Acsexybility (Assexybilidade)

Review preview for Acsexybility

There’s a knowing humour to it which will resonate with disabled viewers … but other people should see the funny side too, and will, one hopes, not be too nervous to laugh along.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A documentary which aims to break open the conversation around sexual life in the disabled community.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2023; Director: Daniel Gonçalves; Writer: Daniel Gonçalves; Stars: Giovanni Venturini, Lelê Martins, Estela Lapponi, Luca Munhoz, Cida Leite, Amanda Soares, Dudé, Clara Sasse)

Full review

Beyond The Aggressives: 25 Years Later

A follow-up to the filmmaker's 2005 documentary, following the continued journeys of four masculine BIPOC individuals.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Daniel Peddle; Stars: Kisha Batista, Octavio Sanders, Trevon Haynes, Chin Tsui)

Blue ID

A previously well known actor transitions and tries to live a quiet life, working in a bakery, but is outed and forced to become a reluctant spokesperson for Turkey's trans community.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2022; Director: Burcu Melekoglu, Vuslat Karan; Stars: Rüzgar Erkoçlar)

Coming Around

When a queer PhD student’s relationship with a cis man becomes more serious and she feels internal and external pressure to have an Islamic wedding before they move in together, she worries that her mother will never understand who she really is.

(Year: 2023; Director: Sandra Itäinen; Writer: Chelsi Bullard, Sandra Itäinen; Stars: Eman Abdelhadi, Fatten Elkomy)

Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson)

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.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Sam Shahid; Writer: Sam Shahid, Matthew Kraus, John MacConnell; Stars: George Platt Lynes)

Full review

Hummingbirds

Two filmmakers find healing in their everyday joyful antics on the streets of Laredo, Texas.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía Contreras, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin; Stars: Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía Contreras)

It's Only Life After All

With forty years of making music as the iconic folk rock band Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have made their mark as musicians, songwriters, and dedicated activists. This film catches up with them today.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Alexandria Bombach; Stars: Amy Ray, Emily Saliers)

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.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Khoa Lê; Writer: Jonathan Bernier, Khoa Lê)

Full review

Orlando, My Political Biography (Orlando, ma biographie politique)

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.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Paul B Preciado; Writer: Paul B Preciado; Stars: Paul B Preciado)

Full review

Queendom

Gena, a queer artist from a small town in Russia, dresses in otherworldly costumes made from junk and tape, and protests the government on the streets of Moscow. Born and raised on the harsh streets of Magadan, a frigid outpost of the Soviet gulag, Gena is only 21. She stages radical performances in public that become a new form of art and activism.

(Country: France, US; Year: 2023; Director: Agniia Galdanova)

Queen Of New York

A documentary following non-binary drag artist Marti Cummings in their groundbreaking run for New York City Council.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Emma Fidel; Stars: Marti Cummings, Billy Porter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilana Glazer)

Truth Be Told

A documentary about the reckoning between the LGBTQ+ community and the Black church in the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Nneka Onuorah; Stars: Billy Porter, Meagan Good, Cedric The Entertainer, David Mann, Tamela Mann, Kev on Stage)