FilmClick

NewFest: The NY LGBT Film Festival
6.5.08 – 6.15.08
New York, NY

Harbinger to the full-out Pride festivities that will commence later this month, the 2008 NewFest Film Festival took place June 5-15 and showcased some of this year’s best LGBT film/video offerings from around the global.  NewFest celebrates their 20th Anniversary with this year’s festival, and has much to celebrate indeed!  Over the past 20 years, NewFest has distinguished itself as one of New York’s premiere LGBT film organizations, marked by a proven dedication to not only entertain audiences but, even more importantly, to educate and empower the LGBT community and the metropolitan region at large.  I was privileged enough to catch several screenings at this year’s fest, including: The Storm, Affinity, The Open Diary of R, and OMG/HAHAHA. 

The Storm

Director Paris P. Pickard’s 10 minute short chronicles a dark and stormy night where a woman succumbs to the temptations of alluring and equally ominous sirens.  The Storm presents as an almost experimental/abstract film with a vague narrative, absence of dialogue, and heavy reliance upon mood and suggestion.  The film’s main strength resides in its strong atmospheric overtones that reflect a similar type of unsettling, ominous tenor that Roman Polanski achieved in his 1965 classic film, Repulsion.

Affinity

British author Sarah Waters has cultivated somewhat of a “cult” following around her popular, twisting tales of Victorian-era lesbian love, in both novel and film forms.  This year, Affinity takes its turn at big-screen adaptation, joining the ranks of other adapted Waters works including Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.  Set in dark and murky Victorian London, Affinity follows the complex and bizarre relationship that forms between a grieving high-society lady (Anna Madeley) and a strangely alluring, imprisoned mystic woman (Zoe Tapper).  While falling a bit short of the brilliance that Tipping the Velvet achieves, Affinity does deliver with absorbing atmospherics, jarring plots twists, and strong performances from both Madeley and Tapper.

The Open Diary of R

This Brazilian short falls victim, perhaps, of being just a bit too short.  It would seem that 16 minutes is just not enough time to fully flesh-out onscreen characters to identify and sympathize with, which is exactly what this type of angst-driven, high school crush story relies upon.

OMG/HAHAHA

Easily my favorite film of the festival, OMG/HAHAHA is a clever, self-aware reflection of this generation’s MySpace/YouTube/Facebook-saturated youth.  Constructed as a series of loosely- connected vignettes – with angsty stories ranging from unexpected pregnancy, to homophobia, to dying parents, and existential musings on life – the film touches upon the types of themes you would find on the most “professionally-Emo” kid’s MySpace page, with all the aptly included emoticons and web-jargon to boot.  In the Q&A following the film, director Morgan Jon Fox paid verbal homage to the clear influence of both Lars Von Trier and Gus Van Sant, who’s inspiration is clearly evident in OMG/HAHAHA’s improvisational style, cinemagraphic simplicity, and narrative structure.  Fox, a Memphis-native himself, also utilized local acting and musical talent to form the film, epitomizing the very nature, charm, and power of true grassroots Indie filmmaking.

Missed out on this year’s NewFest Festival?  Live in the New York area?  Well, then you’re in luck!  From August 22-24, you can catch “The Best of NewFest” at the BAM Rose Cinema where a selection of the festival’s top winners and fan favorites will be reprised.

For more information, visit: http://www.newfest.org/

By Meghan Chandler, FilmClick Staff, mchandler@filmclick.com

NewFest: The NY LGBT Film Festival
6.5.08 – 6.15.08
New York, NY

Cruise over to midtown Manhattan and scope the 20th annual NewFest, New York’s LGBT Film Festival. Hundreds of films crowd just a few screens at the AMC Loews on 34th Street, so the block-busting lines this past week have rivaled even those for the testosterone-fueled Iron Man and Indiana Jones spectaculars. Luckily, NewFest’s lines keep out of the way, as they naturally lean to the left. The fest is not without it’s flagship premiers, though. Another Gay Movie: Gays Gone Wild is apparently a laugh riot, although I must confess I missed the first one as well, which premiered at NewFest in 2006. This year’s special events included workshops and seminars on producing independent films, producing independent queer films, and the importance of networking. Included in ticket prices was an access pass to the Festival Lounge, a place to network with other independent filmmakers and enthusiasts.

I caught an experimental program that included shorts by a favorite of mine, Guy Maddin, and an interesting Austrian filmmaker named Ulrich Seidl. Although neither is an exclusively queer film director, both shorts seemed to have a good grip on the fundamentals of the genre (Seidl’s literally). Queer cinema has definitely carved an identity onto the walls of the indie cave, and is even now breaking out into the light of mainstream, thanks to monumental efforts by organizations like NewFest and its devoted members and fans. My experience ended on a touching note, as Don Bachardy, the star of Guido Santi and Tina Mascara’s striking documentary Chris and Don: A Love Story, strode down the aisle after the film was over and held a Q & A. The film recounts the lives of two openly homosexual Los Angeles socialites in a loving relationship that spanned some 30 years. Don survives his (significantly) older partner with pride, courage, and a quirkiness that allows for some truly gorgeous on-screen moments.

The most brilliant, though, was a video piece by photo/video artist Todd Herman called Forbidden Acts, which features disabled, black, and sexually ambiguous poet Leroy Moore reading several of his heart-stopping poems. Out of his wheelchair, he drags his impaired and misshapen body across the floor, while Mr. Herman fixes him in a distorted world of media, and yet he is able to still give us a bit of his marvelous and optimistic textual imagery.

For more information about the film festival, please visit: http://www.newfest.org/

by Michael Prall, FilmClick Staff, mprall@filmclick.com