34th NewFest:
The New York LGBTQ+ FIlm Festival
October 13-25, 2022
Brazilian films co-presented by Cinema Tropical
The 2022 hybrid edition of The New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival will feature a thrilling line-up of 130+ brand new LGBTQ+ stories, special events, panel conversations, and more. Plus -- parties!
This year’s edition will present six Brazilian features including the U.S. premiere of Rule 34 by Júlia Murat, winner of the Golden Leopard winner for Best Film at the Locarno Film Festival, and Gustavo Vinagre’s Three Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Together, winner of the Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Festival.
THE FIRST FALLEN / OS PRIMEIROS SOLDADOS
A film by Rodrigo de Oliveira
(Brazil, 2021, 107 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
At the turn of 1983 in a small Brazilian town, a group of LGBTQ+ friends ring in the New Year with no idea of what’s lurking in the future. When biologist Suzano realizes a terrible sickness is disrupting his body, he reaches out to trans artist Rose and videographer Humberto, who are equally ill. Banded together by uncertainty and desperate for information, together they try to survive the first wave of the AIDS epidemic. The First Fallen charts the confusion, exhaustion, and anxiety of living through that terrifying time. Yet what makes director Rodrigo de Oliveira’s vision so moving are the hope and resilience that shine through despite the heavy circumstances.
THREE TIDY TIGERS TIED A TIE TIGHTER / TRÊS TIGRES TRISTES
A film by Gustavo Vinagre
(Brazil, 2022, 85 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Gustavo Vinagre’s new film humorously follows three young queer people in São Paulo as they navigate late-stage capitalism and an odd pandemic that erases your short-term memory. Winner of the Teddy Award at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, Three Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Tighter follows the trio as they roam through a dystopian yet still vibrant São Paulo, discussing their experiences with HIV, reminiscing on old flames, and sharing survival tips as a means of resistance. Despite the darkness that surrounds them, this stunning film demonstrates the possibilities of finding joy in the margins.
Streaming October 13-25
Screening Sunday, October 16, 12:45pm at Nitehawk Prospect Park
UÝRA – THE RISING FOREST
A film by Juliana Curi
(Brazil/USA, 2022, 73 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
This captivating documentary follows Uýra, a trans-indigenous artist traveling through the Amazon rainforest on a journey of self-discovery. Collaborating with village communities along the way, they use performance art, ancestral messages, and exquisite transformations — often created from materials found in the nearby forest — to confront structural racism and transphobia in Brazil. As Bolsonaro’s right-wing government continues to wreak havoc on social rights movements and ecological sustainability efforts, UYRA shines a light on how such interventions from artists on the margins are vital to begin rectifying the damage done to our planet and its inhabitants.
Streaming October 13-25
Screening Monday, October 17, 7:30pm at BAM
FOLLOW THE PROTOCOL / SEGUINDO TODOS OS PROTOCOLOS
A film by Fábio Leal
(Brazil, 2022, 75 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Francisco is a bit much — at least according to his boyfriend, friends, and social media followers, who are all getting annoyed with his call-out posts and COVID anxieties. When his boyfriend breaks up with him, Francisco decides it’s time for some rebound sex, even if it means following the CDC guidelines as closely as humanly possible. As you might imagine, things do not go as planned for our hypochondriac horndog in Follow the Protocol, a humorous and messy reflection on what sexual relationships and loneliness look like amid a global pandemic.
Streaming October 13-25
Screening Sunday, October 16, 6pm at The LGBT Community Center
RULE 34 / REGRA 34
A film by Júlia Murat
(Brazil, 2022, 100 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Simone is living a double life — criminal law student and women’s rights activist by day, and live sex-cam performer by night. As she develops a passion for defending women in abuse cases, her dark impulses for a more dangerous means of sexual gratification awaken.
Winner of Locarno’s Golden Leopard, Rule 34 is a psycho-sexual drama that provocatively explores the gray areas society deems “good” and “bad”: pleasure and pain, abuser and victim, what is punitive and what is just. The third feature from Brazilian filmmaker Júlia Murat investigates this dichotomy with curiosity, encouraging the audience to consider their own moral codes.
MARS ONE / MARTE UM
A film by Gabriel Martins
(Brazil, 2022, 115 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
A working-class Black family tries to keep their spirits up after the election of a right-wing president in Brazil’s official selection for the Oscar’s International Feature Award. As they figure out ways to cope and continue dreaming in the months that follow, the shifting political tides threaten to engulf them. Each member of the family, including aspiring soccer player Deivinho and lesbian student Eunice, seeks to assert their independence and identity, all the while relying on each other more than ever before. Winner of Outfest’s Jury Prize for Best International Feature, Mars One is a searing indictment of Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters, and is a powerful story as personal as it is political.
Streaming October 13-25
Screening Sunday, October 23, 3:30pm at The LGBT Community Center
