NewFest NY 2011
Written by L E Shannon Monday, 18 July 2011 00:00
NewFest NY 2011, The 23rd Annual New York City LGBT Film Festival, New York‛s 
premiere Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender film festival, screens July 21 - 28, 2011 at The Walter Reade Theater at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in Manhattan, as well as the School of Visual Arts Theater in Chelsea, and at Cinema Village in Greenwich Village, New York City as well as several other venues.
This year, NewFest presents their first annual NewFest Visionary Award, and the recipient is legendary film producer Christine Vachon. "Vachon was instrumental in the development of the New Queer Cinema movement, producing such classics as Todd Haynes' Poison, Tom Kalin's Swoon and the lesbian favorite Go Fish (from NewFest board member Rose Troche)."
Vachon will be present at the Walter Reade Theater to accept her award prior to the start of the Opening Night film, and again on Friday afternoon when she leads a special industry discussion panel.
The Opening Night film is We Were Here by director David Weissman. This doc
umentary of 1970s San Francisco follows the stories of five members of the flourishing gay community as they recount their days enduring one of their lives' biggest challenges -- the AIDS crisis. This is the first documentary to take a "deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco."
The Closing Night screening is Gun Hill Road, directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green, starring Esai Morales, Judy Reyes and newcomer Harmony Santana. After a two-year stint in prison, a man returns to his family in the Bronx only to discover his wife now seems distant, and their teenage son is making a new life for himself as Vanessa. The father becomes determined to turn his son into a tough Nuyorican man like himself. This Sundance hit is a groundbreaking look at family, gender, and machismo in Latino culture.
Some other films being shown are:
Documentaries:
(A)sexual
dir. Angela Tucker
"David Jay doesn't have sex. He doesn't masturbate. He doesn't even feel like standard definitions of sexuality fit him. As soon as he began to be vocal about his self-identified asexuality, he realized he wasn't alone, so he started asexuality.org, an online community for asexuals."
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life
dir. Dori Berinstein
Broadway legend Carol Channing needs absolutely no introduction, but Berinstein's portrait of the still-vibrant star shows the untold story of Channing's "late-in-life, head-over-heels love story and gives all the juicy tidbits from Channing's decades on the stage, including her landmark record breaking run across America as the star of Hello, Dolly!"
Orchids: My Intersex Adventure
dir. Phoebe Hart
"As a teen, filmmaker Phoebe Hart discovered that she was an intersex person, born with 46XY chromosomes. With her partner James, and her intersex sister Bonnie, Phoebe sets out across Australia to find the stories of intersex people who are deciding whether or not to come out as intersex, to have surgeries and to fight for awareness."
Paul Goodman Changed My Life
dir. Jonathan S. Lee
Paul Goodman was a key figure in urban design and Gestalt psychotherapy -- and forgotten pioneer in LGBT history. Through interviews with his family and friends, this first portrait of the bisexual, anarchist legend provides a glance into one man's brilliant mind.
Narrative Features:
Circumstance
dir. Maryam Keshavarz
"A coming-of-age story set in the underground art scene of Tehran. Iranian teenager Atafeh and her best friend, Shireen, are defining the evolving boundaries of their intense friendship when Atafeh's brother Mehran returns home from a drug rehabilitation center and announces he's joining the morality police. When he makes the girls' questionable friendship his target, Atafeh finds herself the victim of her brother's dangerous obsession."
A Few Days of Respite
dir. Amor Hakkar
After escaping Iran, where their relationship means a death sentence, Hassan and Mohsen make it all the way to France. While stopped over in a small town to await their train to Paris, Mohsen befriends the lonely, but warm, Yolande.
Old Cats
dir. Pedro Peirano, Sebastián Silva
Isadora and Enrique are an elderly couple living in downtown Santiago, living a happy, comfortable life, maintaining their independence and spending their time reading, engaged in their eclectic art and with their two fat, beloved cats. One day the building’s elevator breaks and Isadora, unable to descend the ten flights down, is left a prisoner in her own home. At the same time her daughter arrives for a visit with a new get-rich-quick scheme with one simple requirement: that her parents must sign over the lease to their apartment.
The Perfect Family
dir. Anne Renton
starring Kathleen Turner, Richard Chamberlain, Jason Ritter, Emily Deschanel, Michael McGrady
Eileen Cleary, a devoutly Catholic mother, is informed by Monsignor Murphy that she's been nominated for Catholic Woman of the Year. Eileen becomes hell-bent on making her family appear perfect. That proves difficult when her son cheats on his wife, lesbian daughter announces she's marrying her girlfriend, and Eileen‛s own marriage starts to fall apart.
Several excellent short films are also being screened.
For more information, go to newfest.org/wordpress or newfest.slated.com/2011.
NewFest NY 2011
July 21 - 28, 2011
The Walter Reade Theater
at Film Society of Lincoln Center
165 W. 65th Street
New York City
School of Visual Arts Theater
333 W. 23rd Street
New York City
Cinema Village
22 E 12th Street
New York City
Harlem Stage
The Gatehouse
150 Convent Avenue
New York City
Jewish Community Center in Manhattan
(JCC Manhattan)
334 Amsterdam Avenue
New York City
Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue (at 37th Street)
Astoria, Queens NY
BAM Rose Cinema
Brooklyn Academy of Music
30 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
