The 37th Annual NewFest:
New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival
October 9 —21, 2025
Founded in 1988, NewFest is New York’s largest presenter of LGBTQ+ film & media and the largest convener of LGBTQ+ audiences in the city. Cinema Tropical is a community partner.
NIÑXS
A film by Kani Lapuerta
(Mexico/Germany, 2025, 86 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
East Coast Premiere — Q&A
Fifteen-year-old Karla navigates the turbulence of adolescence while making the life-changing decision to legally transition. Supported by her parents and community yet confronting the prejudices of her rural Mexican town, Karla tells her own story alongside trans filmmaker Kani Lapuerta, who has documented her since childhood. Together, they craft a vivid portrait of what it means to grow up proudly trans in a world mediated by the ever-present lens of a front-facing camera. NIÑXS is a nuanced and intergenerational coming-of-age story that reimagines small-town life—and a whimsical reminder that no one escapes the painful, awkward, and beautiful parts of adolescence.
NIGHT STAGE / ATO NOTURNO
A film by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon
(Brazil, 2025, 117 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
New York Premiere — Q&A
Matias, a Brazilian theatre actor hungry for mainstream success, begins an erotic power game with a discreet man who shares his taste for risky public sex. When Matias discovers his new fling is a rising politician on the verge of a major campaign, their affair quickly becomes a dangerous liability. Directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon (Hard Paint, NewFest30) deliver a singular, contemporary erotic thriller—one that reimagines what it means for public figures to live openly today. Night Stage dazzles with neon style, drawing bold parallels between the polished lives we perform in public and the dangerous desires we play out in the bedroom—or a dark alleyway, as the case may be
SAME, AGAIN / LA MISMA ESTACIÓN
A film by Ruth Caudeli Martí
(Colombia 2025, 121 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
North American Premiere — Q&A
A powerful, emotionally charged ensemble drama, Same, Again follows a theater group as buried tensions begin to surface during their rehearsal process. What appears to be a standard production slowly unravels, exposing layers of invisible abuse, homophobia, and long silenced pain. As the women in the cast begin to speak openly, they discover how much they’ve endured, and how rarely they’ve been heard. With a sharp point of view, a fearless cast, and a script improvised with remarkable precision, this new work from prolific NewFest alum Ruth Caudeli pulses with authenticity. Intimate, raw, and quietly radical, Same, Again is a striking narrative that shows the power of shared truth.
ONLY GOOD THINGS / APENAS COISAS BOAS
A film by Daniel Nolasco
(Brazil 2025, 104 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
New York City Premiere — Virtual Exclusive
Catalão, Brazil, 1984. The rural region of Batalha dos Neves is made up of large crop pastures and is divided in half by the São Marcos River. Antonio lives alone and is taking care of his small farm, isolated, until the day he encounters Marcelo, a lonely motorcycler who suffers an accident while passing through. Antonio takes care of Marcelo’s wounds and the two fall in love. Their romance transforms, destabilizes, and causes ruptures in each of them in this beautifully bold journey from writer/director Daniel Nolasco (Dry Wind, NewFest32).
Wednesday, October 9 — Tuesday, October 21 — Online Streaming
NIGHT IN WEST TEXAS
A film by Deborah S. Esquenazi
(US, 2025 , 83 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles)
East Coast Premiere — Q&A
In 1981, James Reyos, a young gay Apache man from Odessa, Texas, was pressured into confessing to the murder of a Catholic priest and sentenced to 38 years in prison. Nearly four decades later, armed with new evidence, justice-driven lawyers from The Innocence Project of Texas fight to clear his name. With Night in West Texas, Peabody-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated documentarian Deborah S. Esquenazi transcends the tropes of true crime to expose decades of systemic injustice stacked against marginalized communities. The result is a powerful and deeply moving portrait of a man seeking redemption and a legal system reckoning with its failures.
Friday, October 17, 7:30pm — The Center
Wednesday, October 9 — Tuesday, October 21 — Online Streaming
SECOND NATURE
A film by Drew Denny
(Costa Rica/The Netherlands/US, 2025 , 81 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles)
World Premiere — Q&A
This bold, visually rich documentary invites viewers to rediscover the natural world as a place of diversity, fluidity, and complexity. While science remains our most powerful tool for understanding life, in an era clouded by fear and prejudice it’s easy to forget what the natural world truly reveals. Second Nature dismantles outdated assumptions and highlights the very real biological presence of LGBTQIA+ identities across species. Narrated by Elliot Page and featuring groundbreaking research from scientists like Joan Roughgarden, the film celebrates the wonderful, inherently queer essence of nature and calls on us to look, listen, and learn without bias.
Saturday, October 18, 6:45pm — SVA Theater
