NewFest: The New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival
October 15 - 26, 2021
CAUGHT / CAER
A film by Nicola Mai
(USA/United Kingdom, 2021, 61 min. |n English and Spanish with English subtitles)
A trans Latina sex worker is arrested in a sting operation in Queens, NY, but this time it’s all a staged recreation, and when ''Cut!'' is shouted off-camera, the actors relax before the next take. Merging fiction and documentary, Nicola Mai’s innovative hybrid feature explores the epidemics of U.S. incarceration and deportation, making room for the women at the center of the violence to tell their own stories. Created in collaboration with the TRANSgrediendo Intercultural Collective, a grassroots nonprofit defending the rights of trans Latina migrant women in New York City, Caught expresses this struggle for justice and recognition and calls its audience to urgent action.
Streaming: October 15 - 26; In-Person: October 23, 7pm at The LGBT Center
LEADING LADIES
A film by Ruth Caudeli
(Colombia, 2021, 81 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Lies, lust, drugs, and debauchery — and that’s all before dessert! In this sexy new feature from NewFest alum Ruth Caudeli (Eva + Candela, Second Star on the Right), five friends come together for a night of gossip that takes a disastrous turn when long-held secrets bubble to the surface. A point-of-view-shifting snapshot of women navigating guilt in their intimate friendships, the explosive ensemble of Leading Ladies reels the audience further and further into their tangled web.
Streaming: October 15 - 26; In-Person: October 16, 5pm at SVA - Beatrice
THE FIRST DEATH OF JOANA / A PRIMEIRA MORTE DE JONA
A film by Cristiane Oliveira
(Brazil, France 2021, 91 min. In Portuguese, Hunsrückisch, and German with English subtitles)
Joana, 13, is faced with life’s harsh realities after the sudden death of her beloved great aunt. During long, hot summer days in southern Brazil, she begins to investigate why her aunt never dated anyone and uncovers secrets about her family in the process. As she navigates feelings for her best friend Carolina, Joana realizes she too may be keeping something hidden. Taking audiences on Joana’s exhilarating journey of revelation, director Cristiane Oliveira captures that elusive moment of clarity we are all searching for.
