Skip to main content

NewFest · 2025

NewFest 2025

Features

Programme

13 films · 7 reviews

Jump to a film

Desert Hearts

In 1950s Nevada, a woman on the verge of a divorce finds herself increasingly drawn to the ranchowner's daughter.

(Country: US; Year: 1985; Director: Donna Deitch; Writer: Jane Rule, Natalie Cooper; Stars: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley, Andra Akers, Gwen Welles, Dean Butler, James Staley, Katie La Bourdette, Alex McArthur, Tyler Tyhurst, Denise Crosby, Antony Ponzini, Brenda Beck, Sam Minsky, Patricia Frazier)

Four Mothers

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2024; Director: Darren Thornton; Writer: Colin Thornton, Darren Thornton; Stars: James McArdle, Fionnula Flanagan, Dearbhla Molloy, Stella McCusker, Paddy Glynn, Gaetan Garcia, Niamh Cusack, Gearoid Farrelly, Rory O'Neill, Adam Fergus, Gordon Hickey, Eloka Ivo, Leonora Lonsdale, Kim Daly, Nicola Devine)

In Transit

When an enigmatic artist invites a young bartender to pose for her a strange, confusing elationship develops.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Jaclyn Bethany; Stars: Alex Sarrigeorgiou, Francois Arnaud, Jennifer Ehle)

I Wish You All The Best

After Ben, a non binary teen, is kicked out of their conservative parents house, they move in with their estranged sister and embark on a journey of self-discovery that teaches them about love, friendship, and family.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Tommy Dorfman; Writer: Tommy Dorfman; Stars: Corey Fogelmanis, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Alexandra Daddario, Cole Sprouse, Lena Dunham, Amy Landecker, Lexi Underwood, Lisa Yamada, Judson Mills, Brian Michael Smith.)

Lesbian Space Princess

Review preview for Lesbian Space Princess

There’s an anarchic silliness about it which suits the science fiction setting, an openness to having fun and delivering a story unselfconsciously, on its own terms.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An introverted space princess is forced to leave her planet to rescue her ex.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2025; Director: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese; Writer: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese; Stars: Shabana Azeez, Richard Roxburgh, Madeleine Sami, Mark Samual Bonanno, Gemma Chua-Tran, Jordan Raskopoulos, Aunty Donna, Bernie Van Tiel, Demi Lardner, Kween Kong, Reuben Kaye)

Full review See: Interview with Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs about Lesbian Space Princess

Niñxs

Review preview for Niñxs

Mexican director Kani Lapuerta invites both viewers and star to change their frames of reference in a documentary as bold as it is charming.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary following a teenager's transition.

(Country: Mexico, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Kani Lapuerta)

Full review

Queens Of The Dead

Review preview for Queens Of The Dead

Tina Romero is in her element.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
On what should be a fun night at a Brooklyn warehouse party, an outbreak of flesh-eating zombies forces a ragtag group of drag queens, partygoers and party-throwers to band together and somehow survive the night.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Tina Romero; Writer: Erin Judge, Tina Romero; Stars: Katy O'Brian, Riki Lindhome, Margaret Cho, Jack Haven, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Cheyenne Jackson, Tom Savini, Eve Lindley, Danielle Vasinova, Dominique Jackson, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Kimball Farley, Becca Blackwell, Quentin Nguyen-Duy, Jaquel Spivey)

Full review See: Interview with Tina Romero about Queens Of The Dead

Second Nature

A documentary and sexual and gender diversity across different species.

(Country: US, Netherlands; Year: 2024; Director: Drew Denny)

The Serpent's Skin

Review preview for The Serpent's Skin

Alice Maio Mackay’s...most accessible film to date.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A young woman leaves her transphobic small-town, and develops a romance with tattoo artist Gen with whom she shares a paranormal connection. But their deep-rooted insecurities unknowingly release a demon, which possesses one of their ex-lovers and begins feeding on their friends by sucking out their lifeforce.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2025; Director: Alice Maio Mackay; Writer: Alice Maio Mackay, Benjamin Pahl Robinson; Stars: Alexandra McVicker, Avalon Fast, Jordan Dulieu, Charlotte Grimes)

Full review See: Interview with Alice Maio Mackay, Alexandra McVicker and Avalon Fast about The Serpent’s Skin

She's The He

Review preview for She's The He

Director Siobhan McCarthy is adept at using the long-established visual language of the high school movie both to entertain and to show us the world from a perspective that’s relatively new to cinema.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Just before graduation, Alex and Ethan pretend to be trans to get into the girl's lockers. It's all a joke until Ethan realises that for her, it's true. The two must reckon with their changing friendship and the process of coming out.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Siobhan McCarthy; Writer: Siobhan McCarthy; Stars: Misha Osherovich, Nico Carney, Suzanne Cryer, Mark Indelicato, Malia Pyles. Tatiana Ringsby)

Full review See: Interview with Siobhan McCarthy about She’s The He

Summer's Camera

Review preview for Summer's Camera

Sung’s own camera plays tricks, placing objects too close in the foreground so that parts of an image are out of focus, like an incomplete memory.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Summer refuses to shoot the unfinished roll of film in her father’s camera. That is, until she finds herself captivated by Yeon-woo, her school’s football star. But when the roll is developed, Summer discovers her father’s own high-school relationship with Maru, a local hairdresser.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2024; Director: Divine Sung; Stars: Kim Sia)

Full review

Sunset Boulevard

A fading star, an exploitative journalist, murder and madness in the dark side of Hollywood.

(Country: US; Year: 1950; Director: Billy Wilder; Writer: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder; Stars: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough, Jack Webb)

We Are Faheem & Karun

Review preview for We Are Faheem & Karun

Through the lens of the men’s romance, Onir takes in a good deal more, exploring the complex realities behind assumptions of prejudice and the myriad factors that go into making each of us who we are.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Karun, a security man from southern India, is posted to Gurez, a remote village in Kashmir. There, he begins a relationship with Faheem, a young Kashmiri man. But it’s a romance that seems doomed from the start

(Country: India; Year: 2024; Director: Onir; Writer: Onir, Fawzia Mirza; Stars: Mir Tawseef, Akash Menon, Mir Salman)

Full review See: Interview with Onir about We Are Faheem & Karun