This year’s edition of NewFest Pride at the SVA Theater offers more than a dozen features, documentaries, and shorts celebrating the queer community. All films will screen at the SVA theater, with some also available for streaming as noted.
The program opens May 28 (at 7 p.m.) with a preview of “Stop! That! Train!” a zany comedy with musical numbers about an impending disaster that threatens the lives of the passengers on a high-speed train, including the president (RuPaul). The cast includes many queer performances and Charo! An afterparty follows.
“The Dads,” (May 29 at 7 p.m.; also streaming) is a wonderful documentary about fathers of trans and gender expansive kids. Tracking a handful of families over several years, director Luchina Fisher focuses on the increased difficulty of raising trans kids during the second Trump administration at a time when gender-affirming care is often being denied. There are also citizenship issues for some families who leave America — while other families consider it. Nevertheless, all of the men profiled in this film benefit from the “Dads” support group, from their retreats where they can talk candidly about masculinity as well as their fears and hopes about raising trans children, to attending a gender liberation march. It is gratifying to see these parents care so much about their kids’ safety and do what they can to protect them.
Out gay writer/director Adrian Chiarella’s astonishing feature debut, “Leviticus,” (May 29 at 8 p.m.) has queer teens haunted by their desires. Naim (Joe Bird) and his mother (Mia Wasikowska) have moved to a small town in Australia where he falls for Ryan (Stacy Clausen), his classmate. The boys love each other in secret — though Naim questions why Ryan treats him differently when they are alone. Their relationship changes when Naim spies Ryan kissing Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt). Jealous Naim informs Hunter’s father, the local preacher, who brings in a Deliverance Healer (Nicholas Hope) to “cure” them of their affliction. What the Deliverance Preacher, does, however, is cause Hunter and Ryan, and later Naim, to be haunted by the object of their desire, who comes for them when they are alone. And it can’t be undone. “Leviticus” is an obvious allegory for conversion therapy, but it smartly depicts how queer teens navigate safe spaces.
Director Mike Doyle’s modest, feel-better comedy-drama, “Bookends” (May 30 at 4 p.m.; also streaming) has budding novelist Nate (writer Noam Ash), moving in with his grandparents, Miriam (Caroline Aaron) and Saul (F. Murray Abraham), after he catches his boyfriend cheating on him. Anxious about his career, his heartbreak, and his future, Nate hopes to crash at Miriam and Saul’s retirement community until he “figures things out.” Nate’s despair lifts a bit when he starts seeing his grandparent’s hot, gay doctor, Daniel Green (out gay Charlie Barnett). As Nate takes care of other people, he realizes he can take care of himself. It’s a sweet message told in a sitcomic film featuring a cast that plays the material a bit broadly. Nevertheless, “Bookends” offers charm and schmaltz in equal measure.
“Barbara Forever” (May 30, 5 p.m.) is a warm, elegiac, and celebratory documentary about the groundbreaking lesbian avant-garde filmmaker, Barbara Hammer, who passed away in 2019. Hammer documented herself and her lovers in her films, and “opened a space for queerness” as there was little to no visibility for lesbians in cinema. Her shorts, such as “Dyketactics,” were invitations to explore female bodies and pleasure. Hammer’s significant body of work has been sold to the Beinecke at Yale, and “Barbara Forever” shows her partner Florrie Burke managing that undertaking. The documentary also recounts Hammer’s claim that she “was born” when she became a lesbian. She lived and worked in San Francisco and New York City creating films that were as experimental as lesbian and queer lives. She had a breakthrough with her first feature film, “Nitrate Kisses,” in 1992, and continued to make shorts right up until her death from cancer. Hammer talks with candor about trying to find a work/life balance, and it is engaging watching her negotiate with a lover about filming her or meditating on horses and dying. “Barbara Forever” is an illuminating portrait of the pioneering filmmaker.
In addition, “Barbara Hammer Through the Eyes of Others,” a shorts program featuring the filmmaker and her work will be available for streaming May 28-June 1.
The “Black Queer Pride NY Shorts” program (May 31, 3 p.m.; also streaming) features six films. The terrific “Fly,” by Carlton Daniel, has Sky (Jeremy T. Villas), a dancer, hoping to get an apprenticeship with Aldo (Aldo Katton). While he is poetry in motion in practice, Sky has trouble with one of Aldo’s moves, prompting Jay’ko (Maxfield Haynes), another dancer, to take Sky outside during a break. A possible romance develops. Daniel’s assured film could easily become a feature.
In the same program, the poignant short “Jaylah,” directed by Christina Bette, has the title character (Ashley Hernandez) lying to her grandmother (Florence Regina) to spend time with her crush, Maggie (Ana Gates Shields), only for their date to not be quite what Jaylah desires. “Hail Maya” by Fredgy Noël, has Jolie (Ra’mya Aikens) acting on her crush on her roommate, Maya (Amanda Morrow), on their last night together. How the young women navigate their desires is at the heart of this sweet short. “If Only You Knew,” directed by Safiyah Chiniere, showcase the difficult conversation Fem (Ashley Hernandez), a lesbian, has with her Jamaican father, Winston (Adrian Luke Sinclair) about his bad behavior towards her. The short makes the discomfort palpable, and viewers will be squarely on Fem’s side. “Road Runner” is an artfully made short — it was shot on film — about various characters moving through New York City with flowers. Director Yaz Josiah effectively combines images, music, and text in 6 brisk minutes. “For Love” directed by Micah Cyrus, eavesdrops on the date between an insecure New Yorker, Luke (Taylor Blackman), and Isaaq (Julian Elijah Martinez), a tall drink of tequila who is visiting from Mexico. As the guys get to know one another, it is impossible not to want them to couple up, but various issues may inhibit their relationship. “For Love” is a charming short that will leave viewers with a smile in their hearts.
“Adam’s Apple” (May 31, 4 p.m.; also streaming) is a tender profile of Adam Sieswerda, a trans teen growing up in New Hampshire. Filmed by his mother, Amy, this personal documentary chronicles Adam’s life through birthdays and other milestones — from learning to drive and starting T, to getting a mastectomy and dating, as well as going off to college and getting a tattoo. Jenkins captures her son’s emotional arcs, from “wanting to do everything I can to just be one of the boys” to his debates with his parents over his deadname. The film shows how he comes to accept himself as he matures. Jenkins also includes her own reactions to her son’s growth from love and pride to fear and her own anxiety. A beautifully realized dual portrait, “Adam’s Apple” will resonate with both trans teens and their parents alike.
Out gay writer/director (and enfant terrible) Gregg Araki’s “I Want Your Sex,” (May 30, 8:15 p.m.) is a cheeky heterosexual sex comedy thriller that pokes fun at contemporary art, the #MeToo movement, and Gen Z snowflakes. The film is full of Araki’s patented eye-popping colors, arch one liners and pop culture references (one character wears a Spahn Ranch T-shirt, ironically, ‘natch). After Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) gets a job as an assistant to the provocative artist, Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde) — and becomes sexually involved with her — he has to recount the events leading up to a death to two cops (Margaret Cho and Johnny Knoxville). Araki coaxes a delicious performance out of Wilde, dressing her up in fabulous, naughty costumes, and giving her witty bon mots about art and woke culture. Hoffman, in contrast, plays up Elliot’s eagerness to please. The film is an entertaining Araki, but far from his best.
In addition, NewFest Pride is screening “The Brittney Griner Story,” (June 1, 8:15 p.m., Gansevoort Plaza/Meatpacking District, and also streaming), a documentary on the basketball star who faced hardship when she was imprisoned in Russia.
For tickets and more information including additional programming, visit newfest.org.
“NewFest Pride” | May 28-June 1 | SVA Theater and additional venues as well as virtual
