Fest Opens With Anthony&Alex’s SUSANNE BARTSCH: ON TOP;
Closes with Daniel Powell & Elizabeth Rohrbaugh’s BECKS
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Vincent Gagliostro’s AFTER LOUIE and Francis Lee’s GOD’S OWN COUNTRY Will Feature As Centerpiece Films
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The 29th Annual Festival Runs October 19 - 24
The festival is presented by HBO and programmed in partnership with Outfest
New York, NY (September xx, 2017) – NewFest today announced the Opening, Closing and Centerpiece films for their 29th annual celebration of the year’s best LGBT films, scheduled to run from October 19 – 24, 2017 at New York’s SVA Theatre, Cinépolis Chelsea, and The LGBT Community Center. With this year’s prominently featured presentations, NewFest’s programmers have chosen to showcase the glory and challenges that come with self-expression. The selections, in part, also provide a link between the past and present by highlighting the trails blazed by those who navigated the choppy waters of the ‘80s and ‘90s and inspired the next generation of LGBTQ artists and storytellers. Such legends of the music, fashion, and art worlds continue to impact LGBTQ lives, as the community’s resistance against continued prejudice is essential in these uncertain times. These four films--from the streets of NYC to the suburbs of St. Louis to bucolic United Kingdom--are emblematic of this approach in their own singular ways, as they each look back as much as they look forward over an ever-changing LGBTQ artistic landscape.
Kicking off this year’s event will be the New York premiere of Anthony&Alex’s highly anticipated and acclaimed filmSUSANNE BARTSCH: ON TOP. The documentary is an inside look at the legendary New York City party promoter and LGBTQ advocate Susanne Bartsch and features a who’s who of NYC nightlife heroes, including RuPaul, Amanda Lepore, Michael Musto and Bill Cunningham. Following the screening, Michael Musto will moderate a special talkback with Susanne Bartsch and Anthony&Alex.
Continuing in the cross-generational vein is the New York premiere of Vincent Gagliostro’s AFTER LOUIE, which will screen as the festival’s New York Centerpiece film. Starring Alan Cumming and Zachary Booth (KEEP THE LIGHTS ON), AFTER LOUIE is a touching and lyrical cross-generational look at the effect the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic had on individuals and their art as well as at how that history informs and influences the most recent generation of creative LGBTQ New Yorkers.
GOD’S OWN COUNTRY is the award-winning feature-length debut from writer/director/actor Francis Lee and serves as the fest’s International Centerpiece film. This New York premiere introduces audiences to a bold new voice in LGBTQ filmmaking with this masterful story of longing, loneliness and love. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY continues to rack up awards, including the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Directing Award and the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, among many others.
Daniel Powell and Elizabeth Rohrbaugh’s BECKS, starring Tony Award winner Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Oscar winner Christine Lahti (Best Live Action short film Lieberman in Love) and Mena Suvari, will bring NewFest to a close with the New York premiere of this award-winning romantic drama. Inspired by the life of singer and songwriter Alyssa Robbins, BECKS brings the festival themes of uncovering unity and compassion through artistic self-expression full circle and features an extraordinary lead performance from Hall. A special live acoustic performance by Lena Hall will follow the screening of the film, which won the US Fiction Award at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival .
Full Details:
OPENING NIGHT FILM & PARTY
SUSANNE BARTSCH: ON TOP
New York Premiere
Thursday, October 19
A mesmerizingly expressive portrait of a fiercely individual New York counterculture icon, SUSANNE BARTSCH: ON TOP candidly captures the titular “Queen of the Night” and patron saint of LGBTQ inclusion and advocacy with a commanding voice and sharp wit, much like its subject. More than just a tribute to the “Queen of the Night” and staunch LGBTQ advocate, this dynamic debut from directing duo Anthony&Alex captures the essence of Bartsch’s everyday balance between compassion and control. As Bartsch prepares for an FIT exhibit of her nightlife fashions, she faces the challenges of a changing New York City landscape (as well as the construction within her homestead of many decades, the iconic Chelsea Hotel) while reconciling how her legacy lives on today.
Her ability to bring communities together while promoting LGBT rights and self-expression reached its apex with the star-studded Love Ball in 1989, which she hosted to raise money to fight AIDS and celebrated the Harlem Vogue scene before “Paris is Burning” was released. And she continues to gather and inspire multi-generational crowds at her parties to this day. Featuring superstars and LGBTQ nightlife luminaries RuPaul, Simon Doonan, Michael Musto, and Amanda Lepore, this dazzling documentary homecoming for a living icon who has unapologetically been a champion for all things New York and queer.
The screening will be followed by a talkback with Anthony&Alex and Susanne Bartsch, and moderated by Michael Musto.
INTERNATIONAL CENTERPIECE
GOD’S OWN COUNTRY
New York Premiere
Saturday, October 21
Gritty yet tender, austere yet beautiful, carnal yet romantic--GOD’S OWN COUNTRY is masterfully directed with powerful focus and authenticity by first-time feature filmmaker Francis Lee. Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor) is an overworked 25-year-old sheep farmer who feels as though life has already passed him by. He whiles away the time with drunken hookups in his small community in Northern England. When his ailing father takes a turn for the worse, handsome Romanian migrant Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) is brought in to assist Johnny. Although Johnny resents Gheorghe at first, the two are quickly drawn to each other, and during an excursion to the highlands, they forge an even deeper connection. Winner of Sundance’s World Cinema Directing Award for its beautiful depiction of the English countryside—this assured new milestone marks a bold new epoch in textured, LGBTQ storytelling.
NEW YORK CENTERPIECE
AFTER LOUIE
New York City Premiere
Sunday, October 22
Sam (Alan Cumming) is an artist and activist from ACT UP who lived through the early years of HIV/AIDS, struggling with survivor’s guilt. He’s bewildered by the younger generation of gay men, until he meets the seductive Braeden (Zachary Booth, KEEP THE LIGHTS ON) at a bar late one night. Their pants quickly come down and, eventually, so does Sam’s guard. An intergenerational relationship blossoms between them—reawakening Sam’s artistic soul and reviving his wilted heart.
Beyond the beautifully evocative performances and setting, Vincent Gagliostro’s AFTER LOUIE is a love letter to New York City: engaging its rich backdrop while honoring the history of the gay rights movement and the progress that’s been made--reconciling the past so we as a community can look forward to the future.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM & PARTY
BECKS
New York City Premiere
Tuesday, October 24
Following a NYC to LA cross country move that ends in a breakup, singer-songwriter Becks (Lena Hall, a Tony Winner forHedwig and the Angry Inch) returns to her Midwestern hometown, reluctantly moving back in with her mom. The time-warp sensation of being back in her childhood home is interrupted by an unexpected whirlwind affair with self-proclaimed "lonely housewife" Elyse (tenderly played with exceeding warmth by Mena Suvari) who finds inspired new life through the guitar lessons and generous spirit Becks provides.
This electrifyingly effusive film from co-directors Daniel Powell and Elizabeth Rohrbaugh features strong supporting turns by Dan Fogler as her old classmate-turned-drinking- buddy and Christine Lahti as Becks’ former nun mother who is still coming to terms with her daughter’s homosexuality. But it’s Lena Hall, who contributed original songs to the film and delivers a beautifully assured, live-in performance that makes BECKS really sing.
Special live acoustic performance by Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee Lena Hall, the star of BECKS.
Some notable faces and names in this year’s Opening, Closing, and Centerpiece films include: Susanne Bartsch, RuPaul, Michael Musto, Amanda Lepore, Alan Cumming, Zachary Booth, Justin Vivian Bond, Wilson Cruz, Sarita Choudhury, Lena Hall, Christine Lahti, Dan Fogler and Mena Suvari.
For information on NewFest, visit www.NewFest.org. All details and the full festival line-up will be announced on Friday, September 15th.
About NewFest
Founded in 1988, NewFest: New York’s Film and Media Arts Organization presents year-round screenings and events, including the annual New York LGBT Film Festival. NewFest’s mission is to give voice and visibility to the full scope of New York’s LGBT community through films and programs that entertain, educate, and empower. In bringing diverse audiences and filmmakers together, NewFest creates spaces and conversations that have the capacity to open minds, shift cultural bias, and create positive change. NewFest is dedicated to bringing together filmmakers and audiences to build a community that encompasses the wide range of representations of the LGBT experience. We are committed to nurturing and presenting LGBT stories and emerging filmmakers. For more information, visit www.NewFest.org.
About Outfest
Founded by UCLA students in 1982, Outfest is the leading organization that promotes equality by creating, sharing and protecting LGBT stories on the screen. Outfest builds community by connecting diverse populations to discover, discuss and celebrate stories of LGBT lives. Over the past three plus decades, Outfest has showcased thousands of films from around the world to audiences of nearly a million, educated and mentored hundreds of emerging filmmakers and protected more than 36,000 LGBT films and videos.
About HBO:
Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. and the world’s most successful pay TV service, providing the two television services – HBO® and Cinemax® – to approximately 134 million subscribers worldwide. The services offer the popular subscription video-on-demand products HBO On Demand® and Cinemax On Demand®, as well as HBO GO® and MAX GO®, HD feeds and multiplex channels. HBO NOW®, the network’s internet-only premium streaming service, provides audiences with instant access to HBO’s acclaimed programming in the U.S. Internationally, HBO branded television networks, along with the subscription video-on-demand products HBO On Demand and HBO GO, bring HBO services to over 60 countries. HBO and Cinemax programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide.
NewFest is presented by HBO, and would like to thank the following sponsors: Room & Board and Showtime (Premier Sponsors); Stoli (Major Sponsor); Ace Hotel New York, Norwegian Airlines, APA and Ogilvy (Official Sponsors); and Bontá and Comcast NBCUniversal (Supporting Sponsors).
NewFest is grateful to the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) for their generous support of our programs.
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